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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262028">The Spirit Trap</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/leradny/pseuds/leradny'>leradny</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Spirit Trap [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Boy Katara is Soft, Boy Katara still says NO to toxic gender roles in any universe, Canon Typical Violence, Description/Mentions of injuries, F/M, Princess Zuko is Grade A Tsundere Material, Retelling, Slow Burn, The Fire Nation Court Is Messed Up™, The Water Tribe is Flawed But Wholesome, Zutara, but i try to make them non-graphic, mention of cousin marriage, really slight Jetara, the books take place over one year each</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:26:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>47,036</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262028</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/leradny/pseuds/leradny</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the Southern Water Tribe, Hakoda teaches his second son Katara to channel the grief over the death of his mother in a healthy way. In the Fire Nation Capital, Ozai tries to betroth his eldest daughter Princess Zuko to Iroh's son, and Ursa has to explain why that's not a good idea. [AU: Switched Genders, but just for Zuko and Katara]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Spirit Trap [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939375</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue 1: Mad Wolves and False Graves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi, ATLA fandom. Haven't seen you since the livejournal purge.</p><p>No warnings for the prologues. I'll be adding tags as they come up. This fic is mostly just me expanding on cultures and bending headcanons, writing a LOT about gender roles, and musing about how much MORE tortured a female character would be if she had a gigantic scar on her face in a patriarchal society.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>What happened with Katara, said the elders, had changed him in a way it had not changed Sokka.</p><p>The reason was obvious. Katara was closer with Kya to begin with, and too close to the place where she died. The fingers of death clung to children especially and would kill them if left unchecked. So on the new moon after Kya's funeral, Kanna shaved her grandson's head entirely and gave him a bath of snowmelt and dried petals of the sun-rose. Then Sokka was told to watch his brother while she and Hakoda went out to lay a spirit-trap. They took the boy's hair along with the clothes he wore to a place far, far from the village.</p><p>Kanna filled the empty clothes with snow, then with Hakoda she piled stones over them in a mound and sang songs of mourning. This was to convince any vengeful spirits attracted by Kya's death that Katara had also died, therefore they had no reason to linger.</p><p>When they returned, Katara was still sitting by the fire, staring into his hands. That worried Kanna. Katara was more well-behaved, but prior to this he was a normal eight year old boy, never still or silent. She sent a look over to Hakoda, who took Sokka outside for dinner. Then she sat down next to her youngest grandson.</p><p>"The trap has been set and the cleansing is done," she told him. He nodded without smiling, without even looking up. "How do you feel, my dear?"</p><p>"Empty," he said. "Nothing. Is that wrong, Gran-Gran? Shouldn't I feel sad?"</p><p>Kanna looked into the fire. "Your mother's death is that emptiness in your heart--for now. Something will come to fill it. It may be good or bad. But you must tell me or your father when it happens, Katara."</p><p>"Yes, anaanatsiaq."</p><p>But in the end, it was Hakoda who woke him when he had a dream about his mother, who wiped Katara's tears and put him back to sleep. As it was springtime, he took the boys fishing on the next sunny day. When Sokka broke away to look for good spots along the riverbed, Hakoda tapped Katara's shoulder.</p><p>"Look there, Katara." He pointed across the river to a mass of grayish white fur.</p><p>When Katara saw the beast, he cried out in fear, "Dad! Sokka's there!"</p><p>"As long as Sokka keeps to our side of the river, he'll be fine."</p><p>"Sokka!" Katara yelled. "There's a wolf!"</p><p>"Oh, cool, a wolf!" Sokka eagerly looked across the river, and when he found the wolf he bowed to it. "Thanks, wolf! I'll make sure to be a great warrior when I grow up!"</p><p>Katara gripped Hakoda's arm tight, blue eyes even wider than usual with fear. Hakoda repeated, "Look." To his experienced eyes, the wolf didn't seem interested in either the fish swimming the river or Sokka on the other side. It padded over to the shoreline only long enough to dip its muzzle into the river, then lay down where it was. "See? The wolf isn't hungry."</p><p>Katara shook his head and pressed his face into his father's parka. "What if Sokka makes it mad? It might eat him and then--it'll only be you and me and Gran-Gran. What if the rest of the pack comes hunting? Get him back!" He started to cry. "Get him back, Dad! We just buried Mom."</p><p>Hakoda raised his voice, but kept it calm. "Sokka? Check on the fire, would you?"</p><p>"Okay." Sokka ran back to the campfire and as he passed by them, Katara slowly relaxed.</p><p>"Do you want to move further away?"</p><p>Katara looked over at the wolf and backed up a few steps, then shook his head and came back to where he'd been. With them at his idea of a safe distance and his brother out of the apparent danger zone, he finally got curious. "Is it asleep?"</p><p>Hakoda watched it. The wolf licked its paws, then flopped over on its side and gave a huff. "It will be in a second," he laughed.</p><p>Katara smiled. "Sorry I got scared, Dad."</p><p>"Don't be sorry," Hakoda assured him. "You had every right to be scared."</p><p>"You and Sokka weren't."</p><p>"I've seen wolves pass by a hundred times. Sokka's seen them too. Now we know when they're hungry or not, and I know exactly how close I can get to one and still be safe. But the first time I saw them, I was scared too. You know what I did?"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"I hid behind my dad and grabbed his hand, just like you."</p><p>Katara laughed, just a little bit, but it was the first time he'd laughed since Kya died. They watched the wolf for a few more minutes. It was obviously sound asleep and eventually Katara sat down. "I don't know why I thought about Mom," he admitted. "And... and I know we haven't just buried her. I'm sorry. I was just so scared all of a sudden that I forgot."</p><p>"It's all right, son." Hakoda waited, then told him, "When someone we love dies, it does strange things to your heart. We forget they're dead. Or we're feeling perfectly fine one day, and then something happens and it's like they died all over again. You heard me call your mother last week, right?"</p><p>Katara nodded. "You asked where your socks were."</p><p>"Your grandfather has been dead for five years now, and Gran-Gran and I still think about him. It hasn't even been a full year since Mom died, has it?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>"So you're going to be a little more scared than usual for a while," Hakoda told him. "Or cry more, or get angry at something that wasn't a big deal before."</p><p>"Oh, that's what Gran-Gran said about something coming to fill up my heart."</p><p>"Exactly, son."</p><p>"Which one of them is bad?"</p><p>"None of them--as long as you get them out as soon as you can. But in my experience--" Hakoda gestured to the wolf again, still asleep. "Anger is the quickest to go bad. Do you know what happens when a man gets too angry for too long? When they think about hurting or killing the people who hurt them?"</p><p>"What happens?"</p><p>"A piece of your soul breaks off and leaves your body. Since wolves are our brothers, it tries to go into one of them instead, and they go crazy with it. That's when they start attacking whatever they see. Every mad wolf is the spirit of a man who got lost in revenge."</p><p>"Is that why we have to kill them?"</p><p>Hakoda nodded gravely. "Yes. But when we kill a mad wolf, we kill the man whose spirit broke, too. So either way, we are killing two of our brothers. That's why men especially have to keep our anger under control. Revenge only piles death over death like stones in a burial mound. Do you understand, Katara?"</p><p>Katara looked over to the sleeping wolf, then nodded. "Yes, Dad."</p><p>That was how Katara grew from a boy into a young man. While the grief of his mother lingered as constant as his shadow, he did not let it fester. He hated the Fire Nation as much as any member of their tribe, but where Sokka was loud and reckless, he hung back, calmer and measuring. Sokka was concerned with the present, with the physical world; Katara often sat by the false grave where his old clothes were buried, staring into the distance as if he could see the spirits which might be lingering about it.</p><p>Katara was a favorite of the womenfolk because he never teased girls his age and was unfailingly polite to women. He especially respected his grandmother, who struggled to do some chores without Kya's help. Katara found himself bringing water, dressing carcasses, and eventually cooking and washing clothes as women did. Hakoda saw this and, whenever he could, curbed the teasing that inevitably occurred with a reminder that they would not always have women to do such work for them.</p><p>When he grew old enough to accompany the men on the long hunts, and made his first killing shot and botched it, he wept at the animal's cries of pain until Bato finished the job. Katara spent hours training with distance weapons after that and became the best marksman with spears and arrows. And he was the first to perform the duties of thanking their prey, cutting off their heads and putting water in the mouths of sea creatures, or food in the mouths of land animals to aid their journeys to the spirit world. His prayers were longer and came from his heart.</p><p>After a while people noticed that the hunts Katara attended were more successful than any amount of skill could account for, and the men teased Hakoda for his second son being a good luck charm. But when Katara broke his arm once and the men went on without him, they came back with nothing that day, not even a fish, and Hakoda thought seriously about whether his son was a shaman in the making. But Katara did not speak to anyone of dreams or spirits, he did not suddenly fall ill with anything besides the usual sniffle or mild fever, and nor did he express an interest in entering the spirit world, though he did miss his mother.</p><p>It could be that the gods were simply rewarding Katara for his piety, Kanna reminded him. And since Tulugak already had an apprentice, they could wait until Katara was older to settle the matter. She did not say out loud that people favored by the gods usually grew up to become heroes, not shamans.</p><p>Hakoda was sure of it when they learned Katara was a waterbender.</p><p>His sons were playing on ice by the shore when it cracked and nearly drifted away as the tide went out. While Hakoda was sprinting to the nearest boat with Bato right behind him, Sokka was panicking, and the other children were crying and the women were screaming for the gods to be kind to the boys who had done nothing wrong, Katara met the gaze of his grandmother. Kanna had been crying, supported by Bato's wife, but then she shouted, "Katara!" and pointed and everyone turned.</p><p>When Hakoda looked, his second son calmly took his gloves off and lay down on the ice. Katara rested his bare palms flat on the floe, then closed his eyes, whispering something. And the ice drifted back against the current to solid ground.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Prologue 2: Rice in a Desert</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"How dare Lu Ten turn down the betrothal!" Ozai declared. He thought that he and Mother were alone in their chambers, or he would not have been so brazen about criticizing the Crown Prince's son. Princess Zuko was hidden in a servant's passage. Her tenth birthday was tomorrow, and she was trying to hear what her mother planned for it. But what did Lu Ten have to do with anything?</p><p>"I didn't realize you were so concerned about your nephew," Ursa told him coldly. "Especially considering that your eldest daughter's tenth birthday is tomorrow."</p><p>"What else may I do when my wife has not given me sons?" Ozai retorted. There was a bruised silence. Zuko was used to her father's disappointment at having two daughters, but she hated the way it hurt her mother. "Anyway, this concerns both of them, if you must know. It was my suggestion he refused--I told him marrying Zuko would strengthen the throne."</p><p>"Ozai!" Mother hissed. "They are <em>cousins!</em>"</p><p>"I am aware that you grew up in the colonies, wife, where blood may be mingled with that of commoners every which way. But the nobility here cannot be too particular if they wish for their lines to remain pure. The Fire Lord knows this. Cousins are acceptably distant as long as it does not occur too often."</p><p>"Zuko is ten years old in a few hours!"</p><p>"The gods deemed it fit for me to find you upon your twentieth birthday, but here it is not unusual to betroth noble and royal children as young as eight. They would not be wed until she is of age, of course. By then your daughter would be sixteen, and Lu Ten twenty-seven, and that is not so far from the years separating us. Or would you rather I wed her to someone even older? Marriage is, after all, the only thing that girl is good for."</p><p>"That is not true," Ursa spat. "I'm glad Lu Ten refused. I'm sure if I tell Iroh, he will defend his son's decision."</p><p>"Ah, yes." Ozai was faintly amused. "But who will defend <em>you,</em> wife? Your precious daughter?"</p><p><em>Yes, I would,</em> Zuko thought. She was learning the martial bending styles, after all. But then Ozai laughed, and the sound chilled her blood so much she ran back to her room and threw herself under the covers.</p><p>("Of course I would defend my princess," Ozai said immediately afterward, and gave Ursa a peck on the cheek. "Shall we to bed?"</p><p>Ursa climbed into the bed they shared without another word. He made a point of not touching her the entire night, and the night after that, and the night after that. When she dredged up all her courage to ask why, he said, "Dear wife, what is the point of sowing rice in a desert?")</p><p>- - -</p><p>Zuko had forgotten all about her birthday until her mother knocked on the door and called, "Happy birthday, Zuko!"</p><p>She got out of bed and put on her dressing robe, then followed her mother to the dressing room in the Princess' chambers. In front of the wide vanity and desk, Princess Ursa presented the tenth birthday presents of a young lady: a makeup box lacquered with gold, and brand new hairbrushes and ivory combs to match, and a file for sharpening her nails into the points favored by mature ladies. The makeup box had the traditional dragons of the royal family, but when Zuko opened it she squealed with delight to find a landscape painting of their favorite pond on the inside of the lid. And the powder case was sealed with a tiny, adorable golden figure of a turtleduckling.</p><p>Once they were dressed, Ursa picked up the combs. "Let's do your hair, shall we?"</p><p>Zuko sat, eagerly watching as her mother combed her hair free of tangles, then styled it in a more ornate topknot. As each birthday passed until her coming of age, the hairstyles she wore on her celebrations would become more and more intricate until she was sixteen and wore her hair entirely up in the style of a bride--braided into a halo around her head to frame her hair ornaments. She hoped she would be as beautiful as her mother looked in the wedding portrait.</p><p>This reminded her of the conversation she wasn't supposed to hear, and her curiosity pricked at her. "Can I ask you something, Mom?"</p><p>"Of course, my love."</p><p>"What's wrong with me marrying Lu Ten?"</p><p>"<em>Zuko!</em>" Ursa looked around, then closed the door to the dressing room firmly. "Who told you that?"</p><p>Zuko hated lying to her mother, but if she told the truth, she'd have to say she got scared and ran away when Father started being mean. So she used the excuse that everyone else did, because sometimes it actually was true: "The servants were talking about it when they thought I couldn't hear."</p><p>Ursa sighed. "The proposal didn't go through, Zuko. You don't have to worry about it."</p><p>"But I love Lu Ten," she said. Ursa winced. "I thought you did, too! We're supposed to love family, aren't we?"</p><p>"Yes, dear..." The elder Princess busied herself by arranging her makeup brushes. "But there are different kinds of love. The love between a husband and wife is different from that shared between family." The look on her face as much as said she would rather not be having this conversation.</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Very well." Ursa sighed again. "If two people are closely related and marry, there is a greater chance that their children may be born with poor health."</p><p>"Oh. That makes sense." If that was the case, she wondered why Father said it would strengthen the throne... but Zuko couldn't ask questions which were too specific or Mother would know she was actually there.</p><p>"When the time comes, I will try to have a marriage arranged for you to someone <em>else</em>," Mother told her firmly. "Someone who is also brave, gentle, and strong."</p><p>Zuko thought of how Father didn't even tell her that he wanted to marry her to Lu Ten, much less tell Mother. But he was a man and always did things like that on his own, without telling anyone. It was rude of him, but as his wife and daughters they could hardly make him stop. Now that Mother knew what he was planning, she might be able to do something. "Are we ready to put on our makeup now?"</p><p>"All right, Zuko." Ursa smiled brightly, too practiced to show any gratefulness. "Take this big, wide brush over here and make a circle in your dish--gently, now. It's powder, not an inkstone..."</p><p>After the excitement of officially taking on the duties of a grown lady wore off, Zuko regretted the lost hour of sleep.</p><p>She peered into the wide mirror, stole a glance at her mother's face, and tried not to sigh as she cataloged the differences between their looks. As Zuko grew into womanhood, her face was sharpening and her eyebrows were heavier. There was no doubt whose angular features she had inherited. While it would have been very well and good for a boy to resemble his father, there was something she disliked about seeing traces of Ozai in her own face. It was as if she couldn't escape him even with the distance he kept, due to Zuko not being the son he had wanted. She was even as tall as a boy, now, instead of staying delicate and small like her mother.</p><p>Uncle Iroh was in the same situation, taking his broad face and shorter stature from the late Fire Lady Ilah, but he was Crown Prince and so charming that Zuko was sure he could have looked like a boar-pig and still remained beloved among the court. Minor princesses had to be beautiful or capable. Both was preferred, but one would have been enough. Zuko was gangly and unsure of herself, and her sister was outpacing her in everything. Except perhaps dancing and cooking, but only because Zuko bothered to learn how to cook at all, nor did she burn her tutors' sleeves when receiving criticism.</p><p>Anyway, all of the softer firebending arts were rapidly losing ground to martial bending. Uncle Iroh was six hundred days into the siege of Ba Sing Se and everyone thought he was primed to succeed within the next year. The war was reaching fever pitch as it neared its most probable end, and so Azula's flourishing skill when she performed katas for Fire Lord Azulon struck more excitement in the populace than Zuko's dancing.</p><p>"I know what you're thinking, Zuko." Ursa put a hand on her shoulder. "You are so beautiful in your own way, my love. You only need to learn to see that for yourself." Zuko smiled and waited as Ursa made a show of arranging her brushes and uncapping her powder. Sure enough, her mother said, "Until then, you can cry about it all you like--as long as you do it <em>before</em> you put your makeup on."</p><p>in the future, that joke would become as routine as saying good morning, but Zuko never could help bursting into laughter every time no matter how sad she was.</p><p>- - -</p><p>When Princess Ursa disappeared that year, Zuko was left by herself in the dressing room. Without the easy conversation and gentle presence of her mother, makeup became a chore that she performed as dutifully as cleaning her teeth.</p><p>On Azula's tenth birthday, she knocked on her sister's door but was met with, "Go away! It's my birthday, so I get to stay in bed."</p><p>"Happy birthday, Azula. I was going to teach you like Mother did when I turned ten--"</p><p>"Doing makeup and filing your nails? I'll have my handmaidens do it. Nobody else bothers, you know. Just like they don't bother with cooking or dancing anymore."</p><p>Zuko sighed and went back to her dressing room before Azula could go further. She knew her sister wouldn't agree. But for a while, she had hoped so. She'd thought about mending her relationship with her sister in a place where they didn't have to compete. Perhaps it was better this way.</p><p>Still, she wouldn't call a handmaiden to put on her makeup. And she would continue to dance, and to cook, even if she wasn't good at either, because Uncle Iroh encouraged her to uphold tradition too. "As the firstborn princess of the royal family, you must set an example for your sister and for all the women of the Fire Nation," he told her. No one knew when the general was coming back from his travels in search of the spirit world, but Zuko was constantly rehearsing in case her uncle returned without warning.</p><p>She even had her dress sewn up and a special fan made. It was a lighthearted story about a dragon who fell in love with a leopard-swan because he thought the spots on her long neck were scales. After everything that had happened, she thought a happy story would make Uncle feel better.</p><p>When she looked in the mirror, all her insecurities plain to see and no mother to soothe them away--only an empty space gaping where she once sat--her eyes burned. Grandfather and Lu Ten were dead, Mother as good as for all she knew, and Uncle Iroh was flinging himself to all corners of the world just to speak to his son one more time. Azula and Father were content in their little bubble and hardly noticed Zuko was lonely. If she brought it up, they'd probably tell her to get over it.</p><p>As Zuko arranged her brushes, she tried to cheer herself up and said, "Cry before you put your makeup on." But to her dismay, that joke didn't have the same effect when she said it to herself. She actually started crying.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Cloudberry Tea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The water is quiet, like a dish of smooth black clay dotted with white chunks of mica. The only light is their lamp. It's supposed to be morning, but the three-month night that falls in winter at the Poles means it's still dark. Katara and Sokka barely make a ripple as they row through the water. It's nice for contemplation, but for fishing, it's not ideal. Sokka pulls up his net and sighs as he unrolls it to find only a few small fish flopping at the bottom. "Hey bro? I thought you were a good luck charm."</p><p>"We've always brought <em>something</em> back," Katara answers.</p><p>"Something isn't enough to feed the rest of the village until the next time we go out," Sokka retorts. He rows them out further, minding the ice floes, and casts his net again. "Can't you pray to the gods or something for a little more luck?"</p><p>"That's not how it works, Sokka."</p><p>"What about that magic water sense you have? Can't you call fish up or something?"</p><p>"That's not how waterbending works, either."</p><p>"How can you know how waterbending works if you were never trained?"</p><p>"I can't help that there's no one to train me," Katara says.</p><p>There was one time when they were younger that he stopped an ice floe from drifting out to sea with them on it, but he was so exhausted afterwards that he'd barely stepped back onshore before he passed out and he slept for an actual week. Their shaman Tulugak looked him over for illness in case this meant he was being called by the gods, but Katara hadn't been fevered or dreaming--he was just tired. There were no other waterbenders in the South to train him, and he had to keep it secret anyway, so Dad told him not to try anything big unless it was going to save lives.</p><p>What could he do without training? He could sense the tides and the moon and when snowfall was coming, when ice was about to break. He could row a boat further than others. Sometimes he could sense things in the water, but the smaller they were, the more difficult it got. And while those were all useful things, none of them were truly bending specific. They could be also done with a sharp set of eyes and ears, or a few more hours of work. He couldn't do those deadly whip-like moves that Gran-Gran talked about, or send waves at his enemies and freeze them. He couldn't heal, either, but apparently only women could do it.</p><p>As they rowed over a swell in the water, Katara looks down into the black and feels something underneath them. Something big, something alive. Whale-sized, even.</p><p>"Hey!" Sokka says, poking Katara with his club.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"You've got that look in your eyes, bro," Sokka says. "Your magic water sense is telling you something, isn't it? What's under there?"</p><p>"A blackfish, maybe."</p><p>"Yes!" Sokka cries, punching a fist in the air. "My brother the good luck charm!"</p><p>"Sokka, it's just us two and one harpoon, we can't possibly hunt a whale."</p><p>"That sounds like loser talk. Here." Sokka grabs the lantern to shed light onto the ice floes and rows over to a likely chunk of them. With some prodding, though, they crack apart and Sokka sighs. "Ice floes are no good. Well, it'll be a long way, but if we keep focused we can drive it onto shore."</p><p>The shoreline is barely in sight, let alone the village. Even a small whale needs at least three separate boats to drive them onto shore. And again, the long night has fallen. "I don't know, Sokka."</p><p>"Okay, how about this? Any sort of whale is going to feed the whole village for weeks, and I'm your big brother and Dad told you to listen to me."</p><p>"He also told me to keep you from doing anything stupid."</p><p>Whatever it was drifts closer to the surface, close enough for them both to see it was white before the swelling water pushes them away. "A whale-mink!" Sokka exclaims. "Go on, bro, spear it."</p><p>"It's a lot bigger than a whale-mink," Katara says. "I can feel it."</p><p>"Well, my eyes are telling me that it's all white, and the only white things in these waters are whale-minks and hyena dolphins and either of those are small enough to tow back ourselves. Do you want the village to eat or not?"</p><p>Katara sighs and leans over the water. "Get in a little closer." With Sokka rowing, he made sure there were no knots in the rope attached to his harpoon before he stood up and threw it into the water. But instead of his spear slicing neatly into flesh, there's the brittle rap of metal hitting ice. And he still feels something alive underneath the ice. When he gives a cautious tug, it comes up towards the surface without much resistance.</p><p>"Sokka," he says. "That felt really weird. I don't think we should--"</p><p>Sokka pushes him aside and starts hauling the rope in. "Wow, this is pretty light even for a--"</p><p>With a giant splash that soaks them both in ice water, a gigantic white pointed thing crests the surface, bobbing, and Katara thinks it's the underside of a blackfish head after all and it's on the attack. While Sokka's screaming, Katara grabs the oars and rows them as far away as possible, testing his limited bending knowledge to go faster. But when the water stills and they chance a look back, they see it's just an iceberg, such a pure block of ice that it glows faintly in the scattered light of the stars.</p><p>"You got an <em>iceberg?</em>"</p><p>"I told you it felt weird." The rope is still attached to his toggle barb, so Katara starts pulling them in closer to retrieve it.</p><p>"It doesn't even have any fish frozen in it!" Sokka wails, sulking the entire way.</p><p>When Katara finally tugs the barb free, he sees the ice is rounded and clear like a bubble, clear enough for him to make out a shadowy form--of something big, and a human sized shape next to it. Boy or girl, he can't tell, but it's smaller than either him or Sokka and sitting crosslegged in the ice, not moving. He thinks it's glowing.</p><p>"Sokka!"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"There's a kid in the ice!" he shouts. He sees some ice floes drifting close enough to serve as a path, so he leaps from block to block of ice until he's on the iceberg. Feeling around for weak points, he stabs at them with his spear, but makes little progress. It's a precision instrument meant to pierce soft blubber and hide, and after a few blows he knows that he's blunted the point against the thick sheet ice. Katara sighs and holds his hand out behind him. "Give me your club, Sokka."</p><p>"What? Why?"</p><p>"My spear isn't heavy enough to break through!"</p><p>"Don't mess it up!"</p><p>"It's a club, not a blade! Hurry up--the kid's not moving and we can't leave him here!"</p><p>"Okay--" Sokka rows the boat closer to give it to him. "But we don't have room for another person even if it's a kid."</p><p>"Take the kid first and come back for me later. I won't drift out."</p><p>After he gives the ice a few whacks with the club, a wave bursts out--a wave of air, and light, and energy that's too much for Katara to handle after constant darkness. It blows him backwards into Sokka, who struggles to help him up. When the light dims, the iceberg has shattered and the child-shaped figure climbs the wall, eyes glowing. For some reason Katara thinks of the cleansing ritual his grandmother had done for him when he was a child--he thinks that a spirit has found him at last.</p><p>At least, he thinks it's a spirit before Sokka shoves in front of him and brandishes his club. "Stay away!"</p><p>As suddenly as it happened, the glow disappears, leaving a young boy to stumble and fall forward with a groan. Katara catches him before he can hit the ground and tries to make out his features in the dark. This boy is a little younger than he is, slim and delicate and pale where the Water Tribe children are sturdy and rounded and brown. Even his clothing seems like it will blow away in a soft breeze--made of a saffron-colored material that's airy and too lightweight for the cold of the Poles, especially in winter. Katara pulls off his parka, intending to wrap him in it until they get back to the village, but the boy's eyes open.</p><p>"Hey," Katara soothes. "Are you all right, kid?"</p><p>"Come closer."</p><p>Katara leans in.</p><p>"Closer."</p><p>He tilts his head.</p><p>"You want to go penguin sledding with me?"</p><p>The boy is a twelve-year-old airbender named Aang. He's cheerful and a little hyper. By the end of the not-quite-day, he's charmed most of the village children into being friends and Katara's taught him the best way to catch a penguin for sledding. Katara can barely keep up with him despite having longer legs, and the cold doesn't seem to bother Aang at all. He wanders through the whole village lightfooted and curious and constantly talking. Before Katara knows it Aang has somehow convinced him to go into the old Fire Nation ship while offering to take him to the North Pole for a waterbending master, and Katara's learned that Aang has no knowledge of the war at all and might have been in the iceberg for at least a hundred years.</p><p>Also, they trip a signal flare that will be visible for miles in the night.</p><p>Katara grabs his arm and runs off the ship with him, but they come back only to argue with Sokka about whether Aang is a Fire Nation spy and Gran-Gran says, "Katara, I might have expected this of Sokka, but you're the good one and I am very disappointed in you," which makes Katara feel so guilty that he gives up on finding a waterbending master.</p><p>Anyway, since the flare went up, the Fire Nation might be on their shore any minute, and they have to make plans.</p><p>"I think we should evacuate," Katara tells his brother. "We can't fight them all off if this is a raid."</p><p>"We're Water Tribe warriors, we don't run from battle."</p><p>"A true warrior knows when it's time to fight and time to run," Katara points out. "Such as when there are only two warriors to defend an entire village of women and children from an unknown number of Fire Nation troops. The hunting grounds are an hour away, and we know the terrain better than anyone. They're probably not prepared to chase us in the dark, but they're definitely prepared for a fight here."</p><p>"You know what, that makes sense," Sokka agrees. "Let me climb up onto the watchtower and see how much time we've got."</p><p>"Okay."</p><p>When Sokka comes back down, his face is grim. "Tell everyone to wait at the hunting grounds. If they haven't gotten word from us by moonrise, they should go the rest of the way to Black Shore Village."</p><p>So Katara tells Gran-Gran to evacuate and she organizes the rest of the village into packing for a week's travel while Sokka and Katara paint their faces together and put on their armor. Kanna, however, is waiting for them when they come out. They sheath their weapons automatically.</p><p>"Gran-Gran," Katara says. "Haven't the others have gone on already?"</p><p>"I came here sixty years ago and here I will stay until the gods call me home." She reaches out for one hand from each of the brothers and holds them in her own. "Katara."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"I have already built one grave for you. Do not make me build another."</p><p>Katara feels his eyes well up. He can't speak at all, and when Sokka does, his voice cracks. "At least stay inside, Gran-Gran."</p><p>"Katara! Sokka!" Aang lands in a blur of orange and yellow, folding his glider away. "There's a Fire Nation ship coming this way!"</p><p>"We know, Aang," Sokka says. "Now go hide somewhere before they reach shore."</p><p>"I'll stay and help defend the village."</p><p>"You're a kid. Go to the hunting--"</p><p>"He doesn't know where the hunting grounds are," Katara reminds him. "There's no one left to follow besides Gran-Gran and she's not leaving. It's too dark for him to look for it."</p><p>"Then stay and defend her--but only if the fighting gets to the tents."</p><p>Aang nods and takes Gran-Gran's arm. Once the two are safely hidden in the tent, Katara looks in the direction of his false grave, wishing he could visit it one more time. Most people think it's morbid, staying by the place where his grandmother pretended to bury him, but Katara feels better because it keeps him safe from spirits. Sokka breaks him out of his reverie. "Hey, Katara." His brother holds an arm out. "You ready?"</p><p>"No, but they're here."</p><p>Katara clasps his brother's forearm, then they walk out to the shore side by side where a ship's bow tilts down to become a gangplank. Steam pours out of the ship and from the depths of the mist comes a figure in long red robes.</p><p>It's a girl with the palest skin he's ever seen. A fringe of black hair hangs over half her face while the rest of it spills down her back like a silken sheet. She walks down the gangplank with her guards a few paces behind. Her eyes are light, too, the color of the sun-rose instead of the blues and browns normal to the Water Tribe. Even Sokka seems struck by her foreign beauty, and both of them forget to put their weapons away.</p><p>Then a gust of wind blows her hair to the side to reveal why her hair is styled in such a strange manner. Even in the dark they can see her pale face is marked by a terrible burn, spreading wrinkled and red all the way from her permanently squinting eye to the deformed ear.</p><p>Again Katara thinks of his own false grave, that this is not a woman but a spirit. He doesn't know if he wants to fight her or follow quietly. But Sokka recoils first, shattering the atmosphere like brittle sea-ice. "Ugh!"</p><p>The girl's good eye goes wide with dismay--and clearly, <em>hurt</em>--for the briefest second before she snarls with rage. So she's human after all. Katara puts away his spear and grips Sokka's shoulder. "Put it down."</p><p>"What--"</p><p>"Sokka, your boomerang. Put it down."</p><p>"Oh, um--" Sokka sheathes it, but gestured to their war paint. "What do we do?"</p><p>"I will forgive your insult!" the girl tells them archly, in a voice that's strident and loud. She sounds confident, but brushes her hair over her face a little too quickly to convince Katara. "As you isolated peasants may not have realized who I am! You are speaking to Princess Zuko of the Fire Nation!"</p><p>Katara steps forward to rescue the situation. "We apologize, Princess. As sons of the chief of this village, we had thought a Fire Nation attack was coming and so we prepared as such. If we had known a woman was coming onshore, we would not have borne arms."</p><p>Princess Zuko looks very confused. "What does that have to do with--"</p><p>"My goodness! The sons of the chief!"</p><p>An old, fat man comes bustling down the gangplank and whatever tension left deflates entirely as Sokka snickers. There are clearly no warriors on the ship aside from the guards, and they don't seem keen on coming down in their metal armor, not with the lack of sun to warm them.</p><p>"You must forgive us as well!" the man says. "For we have a very small crew and could spare no one to send a message ahead detailing our arrival for a <em>peaceful</em> discussion of a certain event you may have seen from here." He gives them a broad, charming smile and subtly elbows his way in front of Princess Zuko, who tsks irritably but steps back. "I am the princess' uncle; my name is Iroh. And how may I address you, young man?"</p><p>"Katara," he says, deciding to forego the arm-clasp. "Technically I am the younger son--" Sokka makes a scared-sounding noise behind him; diplomacy was never his forte. "But Sokka needs to go to our <em>home</em> and tell our grandmother that she must brew some tea for our <em>guests</em>."</p><p>"Does it have to be <em>our</em> home?" Sokka mutters.</p><p>"Or I can do it."</p><p>Sokka takes off running. "Gran-Gran! We need tea!"</p><p>"And don't forget to--" Katara tries to refer to Aang without being obvious and turns to shout, "Make sure our <em>little brother</em> doesn't get in the way!"</p><p>"Got it!" comes Sokka's dwindling voice.</p><p>"Uncle!" Zuko snaps from behind him. "I don't want to have <em>tea!</em> We just need to ask them what the light was and--"</p><p>"But Princess Zuko, it is very cold out here."</p><p>Katara turns back. Iroh, at least, instantly stands up straight and smiles like nothing happened. Zuko keeps her stubborn frown. Hesitantly, Katara clears his throat and when the princess looks up, he offers his arm. She crosses hers, turning up her chin. She is taller than him by a few inches and everything about her is sharp as a knife.</p><p>"We only have one question," Princess Zuko tells him crossly. "Can we not ask you out here?"</p><p>"It is our custom to hold discussions with foreign royalty over tea at the very least."</p><p>"Then we will have tea!" Iroh declares, in a grand tone that says elders have the final decision in the Fire Nation, too.</p><p>"Follow me, then." Katara walks as slowly as possible to give Sokka and Gran-Gran time to hide Aang.</p><p>Within a few yards of their home, the strange party is greeted by Sokka, along with Aang in an old parka, hood tightly drawn around his head.</p><p>"Well, Aang, let's get going!" Sokka says with forced cheer. "The grownups are going to do some very boring talking that you probably don't want to hear. And I have to go with you because I can't leave my <em>little brother</em> alone in the dark, can I?"</p><p>"Bye Katara!" Aang says. He looks at the Fire Nation pair and pauses to get a closer look at Princess Zuko. She bristles--even more when Aang twists to try and see her whole face. "Um, your hair's all in your--"</p><p>"<em>It's supposed to be that way!</em>" she hisses, and barges into the tent without a second glance.</p><p>"Sorry?" Aang asks, before Sokka pulls him away.</p><p>That was the best thing that could have happened. Katara breathes a sigh of relief, says bye to the two, and holds the tent flap open for Iroh, who seems genuinely appreciative.</p><p>Kanna, standing, gestures broadly to the cups of cloudberry tea steaming around the lamp.  "Come sit down out of the cold," she says. "It is rude for a host to sit first, you see." After the princess and her uncle sit down, Kanna clears her throat. "I beg your pardon, honored guests. It has been so long since we have had unfamiliar company over that my grandson has forgotten formal introductions."</p><p>When the Princess and Iroh turn to Katara, Kanna winks, unseen.</p><p>Katara takes that as his cue to heap on as much useless formality as he can to buy Aang escape time.</p><p>"Honored guests, your host for tea is my esteemed grandmother, Kanna, Elder of the Southern Water Tribe."</p><p>Surprisingly, Iroh makes the correct response. "The moon shines upon the hour of our meeting, Elder Kanna."</p><p>"Iroh, Elder of the Fire Nation, uh..." Katara realizes he doesn't how to refer to uncles of princesses. For lack of anything else he says quickly, "The Fire Nation Royal Family. And his niece Princess Zuko of the Fire Nation."</p><p>"Pleased to meet you," said Princess responds. "Now, about--"</p><p>"Princess Zuko!" Iroh interjects, as if scolding a child rather than a young woman. "It is customary to drink tea <em>before</em> we ask questions of our hosts."</p><p>It isn't really, but as Katara sits down next to his grandmother, Kanna nods gravely and picks up her cup. Iroh winks at Katara before sipping his own. Katara tries to hide his smile by bringing his cup quickly to his mouth--it seems that at least one member of the Fire Nation isn't so bad after all. Princess Zuko makes a strangled sound as everyone drinks their tea in silence without her, then snatches her cup and takes the briefest sip, slamming it back down at once.</p><p>"About this light we saw--"</p><p>Kanna holds up her hand.</p><p>The princess turns to Katara. He shakes his head and gestures back to his grandmother. Zuko clenches both her hands into fists, but refuses to drink again. After a few seconds, she says, "I wanted to ask--"</p><p>Kanna continues to drink.</p><p>Zuko looks about ready to explode before her uncle puts a hand on her shoulder. She still glowers at him, but at least waits until Kanna finishes drinking her tea. She even waits for Kanna to speak first.</p><p>"Now," Kanna says. Zuko's head snaps up. "May I ask what a Fire Nation Princess is doing in my home?"</p><p>"The other day--well, the sun hasn't risen properly, but if it was, it would have been morning--a blue ray of light shone into the sky."</p><p>"Those are spirits," Kanna says patiently. "The rays of light which appear in the sky are the souls of our departed loved ones."</p><p>"Not those," Zuko says. "A single beam of light shone into the sky--it came from the ocean."</p><p>"I wouldn't know about that. I am too old to sail anymore. Katara?"</p><p>He shakes his head.</p><p>Zuko sighs. "We are looking for the Avatar, and that light may have been a sign of him. By now, he would be an old man..." She side-eyes her uncle. "Like my uncle, but even more decrepit." Katara frowns. But since Iroh seems to take no offense, maybe their family is just like that. "Has anyone like that come here?"</p><p>"No. The only old people here are the ones I have known all my life, and there are no benders left in the South Pole at all."</p><p>The Princess stands up at once. "Thank you for the tea. I must continue my search for the Avatar." She waits.</p><p>Iroh finishes the rest of his tea without rushing. "This is delicious! I must ask, what blend have you made?"</p><p>"Cloudberry."</p><p>"I would not want to impose upon you by asking for your personal blend, so I will try to find it at a trading post--"</p><p>"<em>Uncle!</em>"</p><p>"Nakurmiik niritikkavinga," Iroh bids them, and walks briskly after his niece.</p><p>"Katara," Gran-Gran says. "Go after them, just in case."</p><p>Their grandmother is right. Katara reaches the shoreline just in time to find a guard hauling Aang onto the ship with his hands bound and Sokka buried headfirst in snow. The princess walks up the gangplank while Katara frantically starts digging his brother out. As soon as Sokka's head pops up, he says, coughing, "You're right, you're right! I'm a big dummy and can't do anything by myself." Another cough. "Come on, bro, let's go rescue that kid."</p><p>"But we can't catch up in our canoe."</p><p>"Use your magic water thing."</p><p>"Even with it, we can't--"</p><p>A big growl and a fluffy silhouette swimming onto the shore announces the return of Appa.</p><p>"Boys!" Gran-Gran calls. "Where are you going?"</p><p>"Gran-Gran, they took Aang! We have to go rescue him!"</p><p>"You're not going anywhere," she says firmly.</p><p>"But--"</p><p>"Not without these," she says, and steps aside to reveal their sleeping rolls. "Or this." She hands Katara a bag full of supplies and money, from the way it jingles. "Or this." She hands Sokka his spare mittens and parka. "Or this." She finally takes out a pendant on a ribbon, but instead of putting it around Katara's neck, she ties it around his wrist. "Your mother would have passed it to you or Sokka if she'd lived, so you could give it to the person you want to marry. You're both a little young, but better safe than sorry."</p><p>"Why aren't you giving it to Sokka?" Katara asks.</p><p>"He'd lose it."</p><p>"Wait, Gran-Gran--we're just going to find Aang and get him out," Sokka says. "This is way too much stuff. Also, I won't lose--"</p><p>"We'll come right back," Katara assures her.</p><p>"No, you won't," Kanna tells them, with a nostalgic smile. "Once you see a little more of the world, you'll want to see a little more of it. I know how it goes. I'd rather have my boys be prepared--and focused on something good. Help Aang. Go find a waterbending master at the North Pole. And maybe send word of your father." She embraces them both, one at a time. "I'll go to the hunting grounds and tell everyone to come back. We'll be all right without you. It's been years since the last Fire Nation raid, and there's nothing left to take now that our last waterbender is leaving and the last airbender has been captured."</p><p>They climb up Appa's tail and into the large, roomy saddle. Katara takes the reins and flicks them, as he'd seen Aang do, but instead of flying Appa lumbers along into the water and swims after the boat.</p><p>Slowly.</p><p>"Aang said something to make him fly. Up-up, Appa." The bison keeps chugging along. Sokka tries other words, getting less enthusiastic with each one. "Pip-pip," he says. "Bop-bop. Yip-yip--ahh!" With a groan, Appa launches out of the water and flies after the ship, gaining on it in a few minutes.</p><p>As they slow their flight over Zuko's ship, fires burst and fall away, illuminating a bright orange figure darting around the deck--Aang's managed to break free of his bonds. He's fighting all of the guards by himself when the time Katara and his brother land and jump off to help him. Katara's spear gets knocked out of his hands, so he pops the cap on his flask and tries waterbending. He manages to freeze half the guards in their places, and Aang and Sokka knock the rest of them overboard.</p><p>"Avatar!" Princess Zuko shouts, throwing open the door to the deck and striding to them. "Come quietly and I will let your friends go."</p><p>"Oh, it's just the princess," Sokka says, heaving a huge sigh of relief. Katara is just about to ask why the princess called Aang Avatar when Sokka goes on. "Aang, get on Appa--we'll hold her off."</p><p>"Um, I think we should all get onto Appa right now," Aang tells him, tugging Sokka's sleeve.</p><p>"I'm pretty sure we can handle a single helpless girl," Sokka says. "If she gave you a hard time, it's probably just because you're twelve and she's tall for a girl."</p><p>The princess scowls and takes what is unmistakably a bending stance.</p><p>"Sokka!" Katara tackles his brother out of the way as a jet of flame spurts towards them.</p><p>"She can fight?!" Sokka shrieks.</p><p>"Yes, I can!" Zuko shouts.</p><p>She shoots another flame at them, and they all climb onto Appa. Or at least, they try to, but they're blocked by fireblasts from the princess and her uncle, who have finally come onto deck. When a shot comes too close to Appa and the bison groans, Iroh exclaims, "I beg your pardon!" and pats Appa's flank. "You seem like a gentle, intelligent beast. We did not mean to harm you--"</p><p>"<em>Uncle!</em>" Zuko shrieks.</p><p>"Katara, what do we do?" Sokka cries.</p><p>"Run!"</p><p>Their escape is mostly a frantic blur of fire, air blasts and dodging from Aang, and half-improvised, half instinctual waterbending moves from Katara. Once Aang deflects the last gigantic fireball from both Iroh and Zuko, causing an avalanche that will trap the boat for several hours, they finally manage to soar away unhindered.</p><p>- - -</p><p>After a painful conversation about why Aang lied about being the Avatar, and an even more painful visit to the Southern Air Temple which resulted in Katara holding Aang until he calmed down enough to stop destroying the temple, they make camp on a shoreline a few hours away.</p><p>Sokka wearily climbs into his sleeping roll. To Katara's gratitude, he doesn't bring up what just happened. "We'd better make plans for the next time Zuko catches up to us. Aang, you're a pacifist, but you still held up against her pretty well, and you're not Water Tribe anyway, so... just keep doing what you're doing."</p><p>"Okay," Aang says. He turns around where he's curled up on one of Appa's legs.</p><p>"We'll keep talking for a little while," Katara says. "Do you want us to move away--"</p><p>"No, please stay here."</p><p>Katara nods and puts a blanket over the boy before turning back to Sokka.</p><p>"All right, Katara. We have a princess who knows how to fight. Pretty well for a girl. And we really don't want her to catch Aang because we don't know what's going to happen to him after she brings him to the Fire Lord. But Dad also told us that a warrior with true honor never raises his hand to a woman or the gods will, something something something. You're better than me at solving really hard problems like that. Ideas?"</p><p>Katara shrugs. "I guess Dad meant don't hit girls when you're <em>angry?</em>"</p><p>"Kind of unavoidable when she's trying to kidnap our friend," Sokka points out.</p><p>"I don't know--maybe fight like when we're training kids? Focus on blocking and dodging, don't hit very hard if you can?"</p><p>"A kid who's taller than us, and really fast, and shoots fire at us," Sokka muses. "Ugh! That sounds stupid."</p><p>"Well, if you have any other ideas, let me hear them!"</p><p>Sokka flops down onto Appa's leg. "We'll do your thing until we think of something else."</p><p>- - -</p><p>They're far enough from the South Pole that the sun actually rises the next morning. Aang seems determined to forget about the Southern Air Temple, or at least to be cheerful. "You want to see some elephant koi?"</p><p>"Sure," Katara says. He figures the kid could use something fun.</p><p>Except Aang doesn't quite know where they're going. They land at various villages trying to get directions, and after a lot of haphazard flying around, they finally reach an island that Aang says looks familiar, with a calm bay that has a few large orange fins breaching the water.</p><p>"So, we've finally find the elephant koi!" Sokka says. "Now what do we do with them?"</p><p>"Ride them!" Aang says. And he immediately starts shedding his clothes and jumps into the water. "Come on, it's fun!"</p><p>Before Katara can politely refuse, and maybe get Aang to stop swimming with fish that are practically small whales, they are all arrested by a bunch of women warriors and tied to a pole.</p><p>"Who are you?" Sokka yells as the warriors and chief gather around them. "Where are the men who ambushed us?"</p><p>"Please ignore my brother," Katara says, kicking said brother. "Listen, I know we're bound to a pole awaiting arrest, but we only came here because--" He decides not to say Aang wanted to ride the elephant koi and goes for the more sympathetic reason. "We're being hunted by the princess of the Fire Nation and we beg you for sanctuary."</p><p>"The Fire Nation princess?" the lead warrior asks. "<em>Azula?</em>" Everyone gasps in terror.</p><p>"No, the other one. Her name is Zuko."</p><p>"Oh, Zuko!" Everyone present sighs in relief--the women warriors, the chief, and even the gathered townspeople.</p><p>"If it was Azula, we would have given you up to her at once," the chief says. </p><p>"Why is Zuko better?" Sokka demands. "She gave us a pretty good fight for a girl."</p><p>"Yes, in a one-on-one fight, I wouldn't want to take Zuko either," the lead warrior says. "But since she's banished, she has limited resources and won't be able to send, say, the entire Fire Nation navy to Kyoshi Island." As Katara mulls over this, the warrior narrows her eyes at Sokka. "Wait, did you say 'for a girl?'"</p><p>"Did you say Kyoshi?" Aang asks.</p><p>He barely manages to avoid their arrest by revealing he is an airbender and the Avatar, and their reception goes from pressing criminal charges to welcoming the bridge between the spirit world and the human world.</p><p>It's nice, not having to worry about cooking. Aang collects a fan club and starts showing off his airbending skills, and Sokka disappears to find a training spot, but Katara feels antsy and starts preparing to leave. They lost a few days, and even though they're flying instead of sailing, the North Pole is about a month away. Not to mention, having Princess Zuko on their trail will probably add more time.</p><p>He buys enough rice for a month and a half, and for the next few days he picks up some cheap vegetables and asks for meatless recipes off the stall owners.</p><p>"Bro!" Sokka hisses from around a corner. "Katara!"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"What do you say to girls if you want them to train you in hand-to-hand?"</p><p>Without looking up, Katara says, "Have you tried asking 'Can you train me in hand-to-hand?'"</p><p>"Yeah but they, uh. Refused. I'm pretty sure you'll get them to say yes, so can you... come with me?"</p><p>He pays for the food and starts walking back to the guest house. "They knocked you on your butt and kicked you out, didn't they?"</p><p>"Just get them to say yes!"</p><p>"I don't <em>make</em> people say yes. I am going to apologize to them and explain to them that you are an idiot who doesn't know how to think before he talks, then ask them politely to reconsider their refusal, and <em>maybe</em> they will say yes. There's a difference."</p><p>The Kyoshi warriors end up agreeing to train both of them, as long as Sokka respects all of their traditions, which means wearing the armored kimono and makeup. Katara offers to wear the uniform, too, but the leader Suki waves him aside and flicks her fan open for privacy.</p><p>"We don't usually have novices train in full uniform," she whispers, grinning. "I just wanted to teach your brother a lesson after coming in here like he owned the place." The girls closest to them giggle as Suki snaps her fan shut.</p><p>"What?" Sokka asks.</p><p>"I'm sorry, Katara," Suki announces for Sokka's benefit, "But I'm afraid we don't have a set of armor in your size, and we've just run out of makeup, so you'll have to wear your regular clothes for this."</p><p>After a few hours of training, Katara leaves early to test out a curry, and also to try some waterbending. Training with the Kyoshi warriors, especially the war fans, really helped him think about bending in a different way, as less of a mysterious, magical art and more like an extension of his body. While he's cooking and bending a cupful of water, Aang comes in and starts saying something about riding the unagi.</p><p>"I don't think that's a good idea, Aang," he says.</p><p>"But--"</p><p>"Suki said they feed people to that thing as punishment."</p><p>"But once you get past that, it's really not so different from elephant koi--"</p><p>"No unagi riding," Katara says firmly.</p><p>"Okay," Aang says, in a way that means he will definitely ride the unagi.</p><p>"Aang. Look at me." Katara catches the airbender before he can leave, and puts his hands on his shoulders and looks him straight in the eye, the way Dad does when he wants to really guilt trip them into doing what he says. "Promise me that you will not ride the unagi. It's too dangerous. You are the last hope of our world and even if you weren't, I don't want you to get hurt."</p><p>Aang sighs and mutters, "Fine..." before slinking away. Katara decides to check up on him once dinner is done. Best case scenario, Aang is done sulking and Katara can start prodding him into actually leaving Kyoshi Island.</p><p>The worst case scenario is finding Aang at the beach riding the unagi anyway, in front of a fan club composed mostly of little girls. And also, Zuko's ship is drawing onto shore.</p><p>Though Katara tries to use waterbending with the moves he's learned in the training room, and he can control water a little better than before, it still doesn't feel quite right. Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors made it look graceful, but the moves themselves feel too--rigid, for lack of a better word. The key reminder in his training session was to imagine he was rooted into the ground like a tree, and it just doesn't work with water that wants to move in long, curving arcs like floating rivers. Katara's better off treating them as different styles, not blending them.</p><p>In the midst of the fighting, Katara finds Aang looking heartbroken at the flaming houses. "Aang!" he calls. "Get inside!"</p><p>"Look what I brought to this place."</p><p>"It's not your fault."</p><p>"Yes, it is!" Aang insists. "These people got their town destroyed trying to protect me."</p><p>Katara scans the skyline of the village, where women and children and other civilians are hiding in their homes or running from the fires popping up everywhere. He sets a hand on Aang's shoulder. "Then let's get out of here. Zuko will leave the island to follow us. I know it feels wrong to run, but my dad taught me that there's no shame in running if that's the only way left. I'll get Sokka. Try not to be seen until we're all together, okay?"</p><p>While Aang hangs his head and agrees to call Appa, Katara sneaks around from house to house trying to find his brother. Sokka is behind a house, looking a little dazed. He's lost his war fans and his makeup is smudged, but there's no time to ask what happened so he just grabs his brother by the arm.</p><p>"Sokka, come on--we're leaving to draw Zuko away from the village."</p><p>- - -</p><p>After traveling through the Earth Kingdom, getting arrested several times, losing Mom's necklace even after Kanna specifically trusted him not to, and Aang contacting Avatar Roku on the Winter Solstice, they have more problems than Katara knows how to fix. Desperate for something he can control, Katara patiently listens to Aang stressing out about mastering the elements in three years.</p><p>"Three years sounds like plenty of time," Katara says.</p><p>"But it took me six just to master airbending! And I'm the Avatar!"</p><p>Even though they've got a long way to the North Pole, Katara decides to teach Aang what he's taught himself about waterbending, just to get a head start.</p><p>"How are the lessons going?" Sokka asks, toweling himself off after one of the lessons washes away most of their supplies.</p><p>Katara grabs what he can instead of answering, but most of it is lost in the river except for the rice, which managed to stay put in the wave that Aang caused. He dries out the rice.</p><p>"Bro?" Sokka asks.</p><p>"Oh. Uh. Lessons are going great. Fantastic." Katara swallows his pride. "Aang's got a lot of talent. Figures, since he's the Avatar and all."</p><p>"I see." Sokka nods solemnly. "He's better than you, isn't he?"</p><p>"He's a <em>lot</em> better than me," Katara admits, guilty for being jealous of a twelve-year-old boy.</p><p>Sokka pats him on the shoulder. "Let's go buy some more food."</p><p>They grab Aang and while browsing the market manage to keep the Avatar from impulse buying anything more than a bison-whistle. Then they go onto a ship they haven't seen and something draws Katara to the shelves of scrolls. He looks through them until he finds a waterbending one, but it's being reserved for another customer and too expensive to buy outright.</p><p>So he slips it into his bag.</p><p>He's not proud of what he's done. Especially not after Sokka finds out and demands that they return it, because stealing from regular people is bad enough, but stealing from pirates is asking for them all to get killed. And when Aang sees no problem with it, Katara realizes he really should be a better influence on the youngest boy in their group who also happens to be the bridge between the spirit world and mortals.</p><p>Then Sokka says, "Katara." And he puts his hands on Katara's shoulders, looks him straight in the eye, and says, "What would Dad say if he saw you were stealing?" and Katara decides that he will go back to the pirate ship and return the scroll.</p><p>But not before he copies everything onto another piece of paper.</p><p>"What?" Katara asks when Sokka brandishes it in his face. "The scroll is insignificant. What I really wanted was the knowledge contained within it."</p><p>"Fine, whatever," Sokka says as Aang laughs his bald head off. "We'll be here when you get back. Thief."</p><p>- - -</p><p>"Look!" Princess Zuko hisses, hiding on the pirate ship. "It's one of the Water Tribe boys. Hold him off while I grab the Avatar."</p><p>"It looks like he's alone."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Hello?" the boy calls, and pulls something out of his bag. "I, uh, accidentally put this waterbending scroll in my bag and I'm just here to return it. You can check to make sure it's real if you want. I really am sorry."</p><p>"Why, what an honorable young man!" Iroh remarks.</p><p>"Quiet!"</p><p>The captain goes up to the Water Tribe boy and snatches the scroll out of his hands. After a brief examination, he growls and puts it into his belt, stalking up the gangplank while the boy turns.</p><p>"What are you doing?" Zuko asks. "Don't let him <em>leave</em>, you pirate scum!"</p><p>"The Avatar's not here and we got what we wanted," the captain says. "Do your own dirty work, <em>Princess.</em>"</p><p>"Fine!" Zuko snarls. Turning to the door, she makes sure her voice carries: "Help me!"</p><p>"Princess, what are you--" She holds up a hand to silence her uncle.</p><p>The boy turns. "What was that?"</p><p>She grabs a random crew member's arm and brandishes a dagger of flame at him. "Say it was nothing!" she threatens him. Uncle Iroh nods in understanding and makes himself scarce.</p><p>"Nothing!" the crew member squeals.</p><p>"Help!" Zuko screams. "Someone help, please! These are pirates, they've kidnapped me!"</p><p>She turns and sprints down the hall, trying door after door until she finds one that's unlocked--a full closet, which she crams herself into. Predictably, she hears the Water Tribe boy running up the gangplank saying, "I thought I heard someone screaming for help."</p><p>"Here!" she calls. "Please help me!"</p><p>"It's all right," he says.</p><p>"Listen, kid, we haven't kidnapped anyone," the captain says. "She's--"</p><p>"They're lying!" Zuko shouts over the captain's protest. "I'm here in this closet, get me out!"</p><p>Finally, the closet door opens. She sees the dim silhouette of the Water Tribe boy, she isn't quite sure which one, reaching out to her with concern in his bright blue eyes. Then his eyes adjust to the darkness and he recognizes her.</p><p>"What--"</p><p>Zuko knocks him out with a swift blow.</p><p>The pirates are not agreeable to Zuko continuing to use their ship. Her uncle is nowhere to be found, either to persuade the pirates otherwise or to help her drag the Water Tribe boy all the way back onto shore so she can tie him to a tree. It is a difficult and exhausting process which only humiliates both of them. She decides to leave the boy sitting as she restrains him, to allow her to be more intimidating as she stands. It is certainly not because she can't haul him up to a standing position while tying the ropes at the same time.</p><p>To Zuko's immense relief, he does not wake until she's caught her breath. After spending days at the South Pole where the sun didn't rise at all for nearly a week, she's keenly aware that waterbenders are stronger at night. Even if he is untrained, they are right next to a river with plenty of water to draw from, whereas generating fire will be more draining.</p><p>- - -</p><p>Katara opens his eyes and his vision swims for a moment before he registers the pale, aristocratic face of Princess Zuko, standing over him with a triumphant smirk and her hands on her hips.</p><p>"You really are an honorable young man," she compliments him mockingly. "I'm surprised after you insulted my fighting skills due to being a woman."</p><p>"That was my brother," Katara points out.</p><p>"Oh." She squints at him, a little longer than necessary since there's plenty of light shining off the water. For the first time he wonders if she can see out of her left eye and if that's something he can use to his advantage.</p><p>"What do you think my brother would say?" he asks, trying to buy time.</p><p>"Now that he knows I am a warrior, he'd probably just call me the ugly firebender," she tells him. It's blithe, she follows with a snide laugh like it's a perfectly funny joke, but Katara remembers how hurt she looked when Sokka cried out in disgust.</p><p>"Honestly, I know we're enemies right now, but you're not ugly," Katara answers. Because as Dad said, even wolves can be beautiful before they tear your throat out. Also, he can feel the river running, just slightly out of reach, and if he can keep her talking, he might be able to get away.</p><p>"On one half of my face, maybe." She tilts her head almost coyly so her hair falls out of her face, revealing her scar. "This is most definitely my bad side." The scar is terrible up close, but Katara was taught to look women in the eye--in both eyes--and he does so for such a long moment that her confidence wavers. But she sneers, "Blind, are we?"</p><p>"How does a firebender get burned so badly?" he asks.</p><p>A burst of flame comes from her mouth. "Hold your tongue, peasant!" She takes out something that glints in the starlight, something Katara is shocked to recognize is his mother's necklace. "I have a deal to make. This is yours, correct?"</p><p>"Never seen it in my life," he says at once.</p><p>"Really?" She holds it up, scrutinizing it. "Because I thought I saw it dangling from your wrist. It is quite pretty, and judging from the length it looks more like a necklace than a bracelet." She holds it up to her neck. "It seems I was right. But I am not interested in wearing the jewelry of uncivilized peasants." Stretching out one hand, she creates a small flame in her palm and holds the necklace. "You are traveling with the Avatar. Give him to me or it burns."</p><p><em>It is a thing,</em> he repeats to himself. <em>It is just an object.</em> Gran-Gran and Dad would rather he come out of this alive and without Mom's necklace than die trying to get it back, especially if Zuko's trying to get Aang in exchange.</p><p>"Go ahead," he says.</p><p>The flame jumps onto the ribbon and consumes his mother's necklace in a few moments. As Zuko throws the scorched pendant to the ground and grinds it into the dirt under her heel, he feels tears run down his face.</p><p>It's just enough water to make a tiny blade.</p><p>Precision, he thinks as he directs his tears in a flow down his neck, under his sleeve and all the way to his hand. He shapes a point out of ice like he's carving the smallest arrow or spearhead he's ever made. He knows that motion so well, he could do it in his sleep, let alone with his hands tied.</p><p>"I must congratulate your composure," Princess Zuko says. "Most people would never have let me do it. But then, you are a boy. Perhaps you don't appreciate jewelry as much as women do. It seemed like a very old necklace, at least from your parents' generation."</p><p>"I wouldn't know," he says.</p><p>"Your tears say otherwise," she says, smirking.</p><p>With a swift flex of his hand, he sends the spearpoint through his ropes and feels a cold slice on his shoulder when the point arcs too far, but better to bleed than to die. He uses one of the Kyoshi moves to send Zuko sprawling to the ground, then makes for the river.</p><p>He holds her off there until Sokka and Aang come for him, then they run through the forest for Appa.</p><p>"Mom's necklace!" Katara remembers. "Zuko had it and she burned it to try and get me to give up Aang!"</p><p>"It's fine," Sokka says. "We'll go back in the morning to try and find the pendant. That wouldn't have burned away and it's the most important part."</p><p>But once morning's come and they carefully search the scorched earth, they don't find it. Katara sighs. Sokka pats his shoulder and Aang looks guilty, saying, "Sorry, Katara. I know it was important to you."</p><p>"It's still fine," Sokka says. "No one should pick a necklace over a person."</p><p>- - -</p><p>Iroh finds something small glinting on the ground--perhaps it is his lotus tile. Upon closer inspection it is a circular pendant, singed but otherwise unharmed, carved into the symbol for water. A very lovely piece of jewelry--someone would be missing this a great deal. He wipes it off carefully and tucks it into his sleeve for safekeeping, and then hears a clink as it hits something else.</p><p>"Oh, Princess Zuko!" he calls, laughing as he pulls it out. "You will never believe this--the lotus tile was in my sleeve the whole time!"</p><p>She marches over to him with a scowl, grabs the tile out of his hands, and throws it into the river.</p><p>- - -</p><p>They travel through the Western Earth Kingdom, making fairly good time. After Appa has trouble flying through the trees by the village they're trying to reach, Sokka brings up the point that their gigantic flying bison is probably how Zuko keeps finding them, Katara agrees that they should walk. And since Aang is outnumbered, they all take their packs and start walking through the forest.</p><p>Unfortunately, Katara forgot that it's much hotter in the Earth Kingdom than it is at the poles. Even without his parka, Katara is sweaty and tired after just an hour, and Aang is complaining a lot.</p><p>"Wait." Sokka stops the group and gestures to a pile of lychees on the ground.</p><p>"Cool!" Aang says, and leaps up, but Katara grabs the airbender before he can go further.</p><p>"Lychee fruits but no lychee trees," Katara muses. "Suspicious."</p><p>"You do the honors, bro."</p><p>Katara nods and takes out his spear to prod the ground around the fruits, yanking it free just as a metal trap springs up around it.</p><p>"That's a Fire Nation trap," Sokka nods. "You can tell by the metalwork."</p><p>Aang uses a gust of wind to scatter the leaves and gathers up the lychee fruits with another twirl of his hand, shoving most of them into his pockets.</p><p>"Aang!" they both yell.</p><p>"What? I'm kind of hungry after walking so long. Also, I'm keeping animals from getting hurt in the future." He peels one of the lychees and offers one to Katara. "Here."</p><p>"It is pretty hot." Katara takes a couple. He's never had the fresh fruit before, only dried. "We just peel them, right?"</p><p>"Yeah--and you can spit out the seeds!" Aang spits out the large black lychee seed and hits a tree a few meters away. Katara laughs and pops the fruit into his mouth, chewing until he's gotten most of the fruit off. It tastes a lot better than dried.</p><p>"Guys, stop eating and listen to me!" Sokka shouts. "Where there are traps, there's a camp somewhere close by--"</p><p>"Did you hear that?" comes a grown man's voice.</p><p>"Yeah, someone must have found our traps."</p><p>They all scatter, hiding behind trees as a few Fire Nation scouts appear at the edge of the clearing. Then a fruit drops out of Aang's pocket and the scouts look up, and it turns into a fight.</p><p>They're saved by a bunch of other kids, the Freedom Fighters and their leader Jet, who commandeer the barrels of blasting jelly and jelly candy stored at the Fire Nation camp. Out of gratitude Katara offers to help them haul it back to their camp.</p><p>Aang is right at home when they get to the treetop hideout, leaping into the heights with a glad shout and a burst of airbending. Sokka grabs a rope and gets pulled up instantly, screaming as he goes. Katara's head swims as he watches his brother vanish into the canopy, where tents are staked to planks of wood hammered onto trees. He's gotten used to flying on Appa, who's warm and fluffy and practically solid ground, but those don't look stable at all.</p><p>"You all right?" comes Jet's voice.</p><p>"Fine," he says. A rope drops down, and he tries not to wince as he grabs it. Pretend you're climbing a very tall mast, he thinks--except if he fell off a mast he'd have a chance of landing either on the boat, which would maybe only break an arm, or on water where he could swim back to the ship. A much better chance of survival than hitting the very hard ground.</p><p>"Here," Jet says. "I'll help you up." He's skinny but tall, a few inches taller than Sokka even.</p><p>As he slings Katara's arm over his shoulder, Katara's face turns red and he turns away before Jet can see it. "Sorry," he says, nervous all of a sudden, especially when his heart starts pounding in his ears. "Not used to heights."</p><p>Sokka's recovered by the time Katara climbs the planks and feels for the most stable part of the platform, staying on his hands and knees. "Hey bro," he laughs. "Getting a little airsick there?"</p><p>"Like you weren't screaming bloody murder a few minutes ago!" Katara snaps.</p><p>"Yeah, but at least I did it by myself! Look, dude, your face is all red like when Dad caught you snitching akutaq--"</p><p>Katara groans and draws his knees up, hiding his face.</p><p>After a few hours in the trees, he manages to get used to it, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. As soon as Jet asks if anyone wants to get water, he volunteers.</p><p>"Oh yeah, Aang said you're a waterbender," Jet says, ignoring Sokka's laughter. "I probably won't need anyone else."</p><p>"Stop making fun of him!" Smellerbee says. "I hated it too when I first came up here."</p><p>"Yeah, well, you're short for a boy."</p><p>"You think I'm a <em>boy?!</em>" Smellerbee shrieks.</p><p>"Katara, wait!" Sokka shouts, trying his best to dodge. "What did we decide on for fighting girls again?" </p><p>"You trained with the Kyoshi warriors a few weeks ago, didn't you?" Katara grins and rappels down the tree trunk with Jet next to him.</p><p>At the river, Jet wades into the water with the flasks. The spray soaks the rest of his clothes in a few minutes, and his already tight shirt clings and Katara's face heats up again.</p><p>"I'm glad you volunteered," Jet says, as if there is nothing strange about this at all. He is a long, lean silhouette in the twilight and his voice almost blends in to the running water. His arm gleams as he dips a flask into the water and waits for it to fill. "I thought you'd like it better at the river, since you're a waterbender. Not a lot of water in the air, unless there's rain."</p><p>"Yeah." Katara hesitates. He decides to do what he's always done and sit by the water's edge to fill the flasks. "I'm, uh... I'm not going to waterbend, though. Why bother?"</p><p>"You're right," Jet agrees, and keeps filling flasks.</p><p>As night falls further, Katara's connection to the water feels stronger and he can feel the river flowing around Jet from the waist down and he is suddenly too embarrassed to speak.</p><p>Maybe, he thinks, it wasn't his fear of heights that made him turn red earlier.</p><p>His father had told him that as he grew older he might start seeing girls or boys or both of them differently, and there was nothing wrong with that as long as whoever it was liked him too and no one was hurt. But he hasn't had any experience with this. He'd been eleven on the last long hunt with all the men and boys of the village, a little too young to notice anyone. And for the past two years, his only hunting partner was his brother, and most of the village girls his age were spoken for or just didn't like him that way, and he had to respect that.</p><p>Jet is around Sokka's age, but more experienced with seemingly everything. The hook-swords speak to that, even if Katara doesn't quite like how he uses them so casually. Dad taught him that weapons were serious, not to be drawn in front of women or children or elders. Then again, Jet isn't Water Tribe or a pacifist like Aang, and Smellerbee is a girl who fights, and they all live in trees. It might just be him adjusting to different lifestyles after being in the same small village all his life.</p><p>Still, there's something underneath that lazy smile which Katara can't pin down, like a fast current a little under the surface. He doesn't know where it will take anyone who's swept up in its wake.</p><p>"Have you been waterbending long?"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Waterbending," Jet repeats, unbothered.</p><p>"Sort of," Katara admits. "I was never trained, but I can move things with water or make things out of ice."</p><p>"I've always wanted to be a waterbender," Jet says. "Ever since my home burned down and my family was killed."</p><p>"I'm sorry." Something twinges at Katara's instincts. Jet said it so casually, like he was talking about what they were going to have for dinner. But maybe he's at peace with it. Or maybe the Freedom Fighters give him enough purpose to channel his grief. "My mother was killed by Fire Nation soldiers when I was eight. It still keeps me up at night, sometimes."</p><p>"What do you do?" Jet asks.</p><p>"Do?"</p><p>"Don't you have any plans?"</p><p>"Yeah. I'm going to become a master of water and go back home and teach all the other waterbenders who are born in the South Pole."</p><p>"But what are you going to do about the Fire Nation?" Jet asks, and there is finally a note of urgency in his voice.</p><p>"Well, my dad's fighting against them and I guess if I find him, I'll join up. But Aang's already being tracked by Princess Zuko so I can't draw too much attention to us."</p><p>"That's a good start," Jet says. "What are you going to do the next time she finds you?"</p><p>"Defend Aang, then lie low for a while and keep going to the North Pole."</p><p>It's then that Katara learns Jet isn't the sort of person who sounds frustrated when he's angry. He gets quiet, he stops filling flasks, and when he talks after a long silence there's the barest hint of a barb in his voice. "Lie low? You mean you aren't going to kill her?"</p><p>"Why would I kill her?" Katara asks.</p><p>"To get rid of a threat to the Avatar."</p><p>"Aang is a pacifist," Katara says. "And even if he wasn't, I'm Water Tribe. It wouldn't be honorable unless she was also trying to kill me or Aang. And to be fair, she isn't. She wants to capture Aang and bring him to her father. If she or the Fire Lord killed him, she'd have to start searching for the Avatar all over again. There's no death involved. So I won't kill her."</p><p>Jet pauses again. "Honor is <em>nice,</em>" he says, not even bothering to hide the condescension in his voice. "But it's only going to hold you back in the long run, you know."</p><p>"No it isn't," Katara explains. "Honor keeps us from sinking down to their level. If it happens, it happens, but I'm not going to outright kill a woman or a child in cold blood--even if they're Fire Nation."</p><p>"Why do you care about <em>their</em> women and children?" Jet demands. Now Katara knows what the current is. It's anger, festering and poisoned, leaving a trail like blood to a piece of soul trapped within a wolf gone mad. "Why should <em>I</em> care? They killed my mother. They killed all the mothers in my village, and all the other children, and they almost killed me! Their mistake! I'm going to pay them back and burn the Fire Nation to the ground!"</p><p>"Revenge won't do anything besides split your soul," Katara says. "You'll only be a mad wolf attacking everything you see."</p><p>Jet drops a flask and it sinks to the bottom of the river. "You're wrong. Anger is what helps me fight back."</p><p>Katara puts a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're angry. I was angry when they killed my mother, too, but--"</p><p>"<em>Don't touch me.</em>" Jet stalks off.</p><p>Katara has to retrieve the flask he dropped and fills the rest of them before going back to camp. Jet is as casual as ever, but pointedly refuses to speak to him for the rest of the night.</p><p>He's uneasy the next morning when Jet takes Sokka as a scout with him. He's even more uneasy when Sokka comes back, tells him to get more firewood, and when they're out of earshot of the camp he says Jet ambushed a man just because he was Fire Nation. Never mind the fact that he was a civilian and an elder--Jet wouldn't stop until Sokka physically blocked him.</p><p>"Jet is a mad wolf," Katara says.</p><p>"Wow." Sokka steps back a little. "Listen, I know I don't like him and he's a giant jerk, but he could have just been a little overenthusiastic. Dad said it happens sometimes."</p><p>"While we were filling the flasks, Jet started asking me what I would do to the Fire Nation if I could. He got <em>violent.</em> He said he'd burn the Fire Nation to the ground, even the women and kids. And when I told him that revenge wasn't our way, that it'd only make him sick, he stopped talking to me."</p><p>Sokka curses. "I wondered why he gave you the cold shoulder. What do we--"</p><p>"Hey, Katara?" Aang calls, making them both jump.</p><p>"What, Aang?"</p><p>"Jet asked if I wanted to help him fill the reservoir because the Fire Nation is planning to clear the land for farms."</p><p>"Why the reservoir?" Katara asks. "Shouldn't we be at the forest?"</p><p>"Because they're going to set fire to the whole forest and wait for it to burn down!" Aang cries. "He said I'd be able to fill it myself, I just thought it'd go quicker with two waterbenders. Smellerbee and Longshot will be waiting and watching for when the Fire Nation starts."</p><p>"Who'll be with you and Jet?"</p><p>"Well, since there's no other waterbenders besides you and me, no one."</p><p>"I'll go with you, Aang," Katara says quickly. "When do we go?"</p><p>"Pipsqueak and the Duke just gave him the news, it'll be tomorrow. We'll only stay until the reservoir is full, and then we can leave."</p><p>He looks at Sokka again, who says, "Yeah, it's only a day."</p><p>- - -</p><p>When Katara comes back with Aang, Jet looks surprised to see him and a smile grows on his face, easy and calm. "I'm sorry for how I acted, Katara."</p><p>Katara nods, but doesn't accept it, simply asking what they're going to do with waterbending. As Jet takes them to a spot where there are underground water currents that they need to redirect to the river, Katara reaches out with his other sense. He can feel the water Jet is talking about, but hidden underneath a layer of earth, it's muted, like trying to listen to someone a little too far away. "I've never tried to work with water I can't see or touch," he says, pressing his palm to the ground.</p><p>"It's all right." A hand rests on his shoulder, too big to be Aang's. Jet's voice comes, soft and mellow, entirely too close to his ear. "You can do this, Katara."</p><p>Katara pulls his shoulder away. "But this is a life or death situation, so I'm sure I can figure it out myself."</p><p>"All right," Jet says. He sounds as nonchalant as usual, but there's too much tension in his hands, resting on his sword hilts. He prowls away like a miffed cat, then gradually circles back around to Aang. That makes every single one of Katara's protective instincts rear up. He can't stop thinking about Jet's determination to kill Fire Nation women and children in revenge. "Hey, Aang, what do you--"</p><p>"Aang is the Avatar," Katara says. "He can definitely figure it out."</p><p>"Um." Aang looks confused at the sharpness. "Are you okay, Katara?"</p><p>He thinks fast. He says, letting his voice tremble: "I'm sorry. I've just... I've never heard of anyone burning down a whole forest. Who could ever think about wiping out so much life?"</p><p>Jet smiles and draws closer, puts his hand on Katara's shoulder again. "You're the kindest person I've ever met," the Freedom Fighter says. "I know it's hard for you to imagine that people can act otherwise. But you'll get used to it. You'll see."</p><p>Katara lets him stay close, because he remembers his father telling him and Sokka, "If there's a choice between a man's life and that of a child, the child comes first, even if they were born of your greatest enemy, because children are the most innocent. A man with true honor would see it as no choice at all."</p><p>One burst dam and a flooded town later, with Sokka coming back to say he evacuated the civilians instead of trying to stop the explosion, Katara has frozen Jet to a tree and left him there. He knows the ice will melt, either on its own or with help from the other Freedom Fighters, but it gives them plenty of time to head back to Appa and fly away.</p><p>"How could Jet do that?" Aang asks. "How could he try to kill a whole city full of people and not feel any regret?"</p><p>"He's a mad wolf, Aang," Sokka says.</p><p>"What's that mean?"</p><p>"Water Tribe thing," Sokka says. "It means he's unpredictable. No morals. He'll attack everyone he sees if he doesn't like them."</p><p>"I wish we could help him. There must be a way to make him see that what he's doing is wrong."</p><p>"There's no helping mad wolves, Aang," Katara says. He beckons with an arm, and the airbender immediately curls into his side, miserable. Appa groans in sympathy.</p><p>"Yeah, the only way to deal with them is k--"</p><p>"You just have to <em>get away</em> from them as fast as possible," Katara says, glaring at Sokka as he holds Aang. He mouths to his brother, '<em>Pacifist.</em>'</p><p>"Right," Sokka says. "Get away. That's a valid option."</p><p>Aang doesn't cry, but even after they land and Katara cooks a vegetarian stew for them all, he only finishes his bowl after being reminded twice. After lights out, Katara hears him tossing and turning for a long time.</p><p>They have roughly three weeks until they get to the Northern Water Tribe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If anyone thought that I wouldn't still have Katara's crush on Jet just because I changed Katara to a boy and the main ship is M/F, I am GRAVELY insulted. How very dare you.</p><p>Anyway, just assume that every episode I didn't write about happened offscreen. I know it's messy.</p><p>Also: On an Earth-like planet with roughly equal proportions and equinoxes and everything, it was supposed to be nighttime for THREE WHOLE MONTHS at the Poles since it was winter in Book One!!!! This changes things, but honestly not too much except for The Aesthetic of constant nighttime and maybe a couple of details like Katara and Sokka having better night vision. The Siege of the North will be fun, though.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Music Night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While Zuko is conferring with the captain on the Avatar's whereabouts, poring over maps and previous destinations that have garnered Avatar sightings, her uncle is holding a Pai Sho tournament. The crew as a whole are losing terribly and groans of disappointment follow every game. Iroh knows Zuko cannot tell them to get back to work; they have limited coal and are conserving it in order to reach the next port, so they don't need as many people.</p>
<p>"The Avatar is completely unpredictable," she says.</p>
<p>"True," the captain agrees. "We haven't been able to pick up his trail since the storm, but it seems that he's been going north steadily since leaving the South Pole."</p>
<p>"Everywhere is north of the South Pole, Captain."</p>
<p>"If we continue heading northeast, we'll reach the port near the Old Taku ruins--most likely we'll only get enough coal to reach another port, but better than nothing--"</p>
<p>A ship horn sounds, startling Zuko, and she looks up to see a Fire Nation cruiser pull up for docking. "What do they want?"</p>
<p>"Perhaps a sporting game of Pai Sho!" Iroh laughs.</p>
<p>Nothing so trivial, it turns out. Commander Zhao has been promoted to Admiral, which is bad enough because she despises the man. When combined with the fact that Zhao has been placed in charge of the hunt for the Avatar, an awful realisation settles into her heart. Ranking officers above Commander are increasingly likely to receive their orders from none other than the Fire Lord himself, and Admiral is only one step removed.</p>
<p>If Zuko has not been given any resources towards the hunt which has consumed her life since banishment, and Zhao has, then...</p>
<p><em>It is a test, nothing more,</em> she insists to herself. <em>Father only wishes that I work harder to prove my dedication and loyalty. Now that the Avatar has returned--</em></p>
<p>Yet what Zhao said to goad her into an Agni Kai rises in her thoughts, cold and terrible: "If your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Avatar or no."</p>
<p>
  <em>Lies, lies, lies!</em>
</p>
<p>At the Old Taku port, Zuko is too restless to stay on board and wanders about the market, not looking for anything, only in need of something to do. The crew has finished restocking and refueling and await their orders when she returns, but she foregoes it in an attempt to clear her mind with meditation and training. She cannot focus. She goes through the moves anyway, critiquing her own performance out of habit. She does the same form again and again, but the flames shooting out of her palms are not near hot enough.</p>
<p>At the very end she slumps over to lean over the railing on the starboard side, feeling nauseous. It is a foreign sensation. Zuko has never gotten seasick in her life. She has been on ships since before she could walk--her earliest memory is standing on the side of the ferry to Ember Island, smelling brine-soaked air, her mother's sleeve draped about her shoulders for warmth. Back then the ferry was a wooden sailboat with a figurehead on the prow; what it depicted, Zuko can't remember.</p>
<p>The ferry rocked and tilted in the water like a live, massive creature. Zuko giggled, swaying with it, and Ursa laughed and kept her arms around Zuko like they were all three dancing together--the boat, the Princess, and the princess' daughter. The spray dampened their hair into icy strands along their cheeks, but it only made her more excited.</p>
<p>"Princess Zuko?" comes Iroh's voice. "Are you well? You haven't given the men an order for an hour."</p>
<p>Pulling herself together, Zuko snaps, "I don't care what they do."</p>
<p>"Don't give up hope yet, niece. You may still find the Avatar before Zhao."</p>
<p>Zuko stares into the water instead of answering Iroh. The water churns, and so does her stomach. She refuses to let her thoughts settle too long because if they do, she will start thinking about how Zhao has more men (they will take longer to coordinate), Zhao has more resources (but Zuko has more experience, she has seen and fought the boy herself, what has Zhao done?), and both of which were given by her own father (as a test only, a test for <em>Zuko</em>, it did not reflect Father's actual opinion of Zhao, or perhaps somebody else gave Zhao the orders, it <em>had to be</em>)--</p>
<p>"The Avatar is unpredictable," she says, voice calmer than she thought. "We should wait for a sign of him before moving, to conserve fuel."</p>
<p>"A good choice, Princess," Iroh nods. "Shall we delegate a scouting mission to one of the crew members?"</p>
<p>"No, I'll do it," she says. "We need all hands on deck in case we need to follow their escape."</p>
<p>"Very well--but since we will be in port for a while, we might as well have a <em>music night!</em>" </p>
<p>Zuko locks herself into her room to change as the rest of the crew cheers.</p>
<p>She has left the ship without fail since the first music night. As the only woman on board, moreover trained in the dances of court ladies, if she stays then Iroh will inevitably shove a fan into her hands and ask her to remind the crew of happier times. Zuko has not danced since her banishment and refuses her uncle's cajoling. No one would think it at all strange if she stayed away until morning--especially not after Zhao.</p>
<p>She exits wearing drab commoner's clothes with her hair brushed over her scar and a wide straw hat to cover her golden eyes. She completely ignores her uncle, who tells her "Come back soon, niece!" and the men who have already started tuning their instruments or trying out the new ones Iroh bought during his blasted search for a new white lotus tile. In her hand is a bag containing another, much more effective disguise, just in case Zhao's made good on his boast.</p>
<p>When Zuko hears that the boy has indeed been captured already, she ducks behind a building and pulls her peasant garb off, tucking her hair into the hood and finally donning a mask from Love Amongst the Dragons.</p>
<p>After Ursa disappeared, Zuko spent a lot of time in her mother's chambers--"Crying?" Azula would mock her--and found a series of theatre masks hidden away. Unable to bear the thought of seeing her mother's things destroyed, Zuko made off with one, the Spirit of Dark Water, and hid it in her own rooms. When she was banished, it was one of the few things she'd taken with her, hidden under bandages and salves. Her mother had loved the theatre, and she had loved Zuko; the mask felt something like a talisman against the loneliness she felt, which sometimes even Iroh could not drive away.</p>
<p>Now the blue mask was protecting Zuko, as well--from Zhao, she thinks fiercely, tightening the strap around her head.</p>
<p>(Never mind that Zhao was not the one who spent Zuko's whole childhood belittling her lack of skill in favor of Azula, who possessed such rare talent that it eclipsed her not being a boy.)</p>
<p>The guards around Pohuai Stronghold are alert, but they are also thoroughly predictable in their routines and behaviors. No firebender enjoys staying up too long past sunset, as Zuko knows all too well; she easily gets through the first gate by climbing under a wagon and holding fast to the undercarriage. The guards wave it past, not even bothering to check under it.</p>
<p><em>Be still, be silent,</em> she thinks. Her dance training was useful for that, at least. She controls her breath, gripping the bars so tight that her hands feel numbed.</p>
<p>The second gate's guards are of a higher grade and as one of them moves to check under the wagon, she slips into the hold, escaping detection as it was already searched. From then on it's child's play to hide in the shadows of the roof, obscured by the rolled up cloth door. While the guards and workers are distracted by the unloading, she darts through the stronghold's doors.</p>
<p>Soldiers gossip nearly as much as nobles do, even moreso in the safety of a fortress with three walls. The trail of gossip about the captured Avatar leads Zuko past the kitchen to a hallway with an ostentatiously large door. Not two but four guards stand shoulder-to-shoulder across it. She slips away to grab a bucket of water and hides it within reach, then makes an intentional sound. One of the guards comes to check; she dodges, knocks him out, and throws his helmet into the hall where the Avatar is imprisoned. Two other guards come to check, and when they are distracted by their fallen comrade she renders them unconscious, too.</p>
<p>There is no room for error, but she is doing quite well so far. Zuko picks up the bucket and charges the last guard outright, easily dousing the fire and using the empty bucket to sweep him off his feet. She binds and gags him, and for further safety she turns his helmet askew so he can't see out of it if he awakens while she's taking the Avatar away.</p>
<p>She breaks the locks with a strike from the hilt of her sword and opens the door. Even Zhao's idea of a dungeon is buffoonish, she thinks, eying the poles which keep the Avatar standing in chains and the excess of open space. Yes, it is intimidating to a point, but should the Avatar free himself--or, she thinks, readying her swords, is freed by someone else--he could dart up to the top of the columns with that irritating nimbleness and evade capture by gliding all the way to the doors, evading or blocking any bursts of flame.</p>
<p>The Avatar screams as she approaches, but Zuko can hardly speak to reassure him that this is a rescue. So she lets her actions speak for her. After she breaks his chains and he babbles his questions, she simply opens the door and gestures for him to follow with the tip of one of her swords.</p>
<p>"Wait!" She wonders if his glider is there. That would be useful. But no, even Zhao wouldn't be stupid enough to keep a prisoner's effects in the same ridiculously large room as said prisoner. "My frogs!"</p>
<p>Frogs?</p>
<p>Several croaks rise from the floor and she turns to see exactly that--a handful of frogs hopping sluggishly towards the door.</p>
<p>"No, come back! Stop thawing out!" He tries to scoop them up into his pockets, frantic, and Zuko uses all of her discipline to resist a sigh of irritation. She throws him over her shoulder and the frogs slip out of his tunic again, happy to jump away. "Stop!" the Avatar cries. "My friends need to suck on those frogs!"</p>
<p>He is a child, she reminds herself, smoke threatening to come out of her mouth.</p>
<p>They make it to the courtyard before the alarm is raised and the gates of the first wall closed. It is strange, having the Avatar use his agility and evasiveness to aid her for once. He grabs her arm and uses a massive gust of wind to send her up, up, up--in those few moments of dizzying vertigo it takes all Zuko's years of physical training to twist upright and land on her feet at the wall's zenith. She still stumbles into one of the guards. Small wonder that fighting him makes her lightheaded.</p>
<p>"What's going on?"</p>
<p>"He's stealing the Avatar! Get him!"</p>
<p>Even if it's a helpful mistake, something in her fumes at being mistaken for a man when she hasn't even bound her chest, slim as it is. But no, she cannot use her anger to fuel firebending, so she uses her swords to hack away at her opponents while waiting for the Avatar to rejoin her.</p>
<p>The second gate is more difficult; the third gate they would have been captured, if not for Zhao saying that the Avatar must be captured alive.</p>
<p>Zuko whips around, holding both of her bloody swords to the Avatar's throat; his breath sharpens in terror. For some reason she hears her mother's voice, not crying out in surprise but a disappointed murmur. Perhaps asking something like, 'Zuko, how could you do such a thing?" The Avatar does his best to inch away from the blades, but she gives him no room to duck under them or twist out of her grasp. He is still a hand-span shorter than her. A child.</p>
<p>No, she doesn't like it either, but what else can she do? It is the only way they will be allowed to leave. And as Zhao gestures for the gates to be opened, for the Avatar to be allowed out, Zuko backs away step by step, allowing the Avatar to match her pace.</p>
<p>She allows her swords to tilt a half-inch downward, giving a hair's breath of space between the blades and the Avatar's neck, but it is enough--he visibly relaxes. She refuses to turn her back on the gates or Zhao and keeps a watch out--for ostrich horses to spill out of the gates after them, for the sounds of catapults or ballistae.</p>
<p>A high whistling sound alerts Zuko to an archer, but before she has a chance to see where it came from, her forehead bursts with pain and she remembers nothing beyond that point.</p>
<p>- - -</p>
<p>Zuko awakens in the forest near Taku's port. The sky is suspiciously light, and--she realizes with horror that her mask had been taken off. As she sits up, her hand touches the cold ceramic of her mask a bit the side, and her head throbs in pain. In the corner of her vision, she catches sight of the Avatar sitting on a tree root a little farther away, as bright and innocent as a forlorn sparrowkeet.</p>
<p>"You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get into so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"</p>
<p>As the Avatar has been freed, her next objective would ideally be taking him back to her ship, but she can feel the sun coming closer and she can always track him down again. The priority now is returning to her ship before her absence is noted. She has no time to listen to what he's saying and with her headache, it's somewhat muffled anyway. She swings her fist and sends a burst of flame in his direction. It's unfocused and fades away after only a moment, barely lighting the canopy above them.</p>
<p>Once the Avatar has fled, leaping from tree to tree, Zuko grabs her mask, sprints to the spot a few buildings away from the docks where she hid her normal clothes, and throws them on over her black outfit. Her swords are still bloody and she scrubs them as clean as she can on the dewy grass before wiping it on her skirt.</p>
<p>Dawn usually makes her feel better, but the light pierces her soul instead of warming it, clashing with her fatigue and probable concussion. She rubs her temples, shoulders past the laughing, jovial crew members going about their day, and heads straight for her cabin.</p>
<p>"Princess Zuko!" Iroh calls, worsening her headache. "Where have you been? Music night was a smashing success!"</p>
<p>"I'm going to bed," she tells him. "No disturbances."</p>
<p>As always, her uncle takes orders as he pleases. In only a few hours, he knocks on her door with a breakfast tray: lassi sweetened with rosewater, and a bowl of jook topped by slices of pork-belly and a poached egg. It's the heavy breakfast traditionally served when people have drunk the night away.</p>
<p>"Uncle!" she says, before she realizes this would work well as a cover story. "I don't have a <em>hangover.</em>"</p>
<p>"You won't after you eat this!"</p>
<p>The decision has been made for her. She eyes him, then grabs the tray and kicks the door shut behind her.</p>
<p>It's a week before Zuko feels well enough to stand up straight--and in that week, Iroh mentioned something about a stowaway dragged out of the ship by a woman and her great blind beast. Her uncle mentioned the rarity of the shirshiu, which could smell a rat from a continent away, and the strange beauty of the bounty hunter, but Zuko is more concerned with the <em>gaping hole in the deck</em>.</p>
<p>"Why has this not been <em>fixed?!</em>"</p>
<p>"Princess," Iroh tries to soothe her as the crew cowers. "Seeing as you were so <em>ill</em>, we hardly wished to disturb your rest--"</p>
<p>Zuko demands that they enlist the bounty hunter in their search for the Avatar, but no luck--Jun had moved on to her next target several days ago. She could be gone for hours or weeks. So the ship is forced to remain at port for another few days while the deck is repaired, and after no sign of Jun at her usual haunts with the Avatar getting further and further away, Zuko decides to continue her hunt as usual.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>oh yeah, I'm on tumblr as leradny. talk to me about atla stuff. or cute puppies! or whatever else i'm spamming my dash with atm.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Ripples on the Water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All right, so this is the chapter where Katara learns to heal!</p><p>Content Warning: Katara learns how to heal. There is only one specific class discussed. Katara is watching someone perform a surgery of taking a knife out of someone's leg. It isn't described with too much detail, except for mention of blood. The big thing is that the patient wakes up in the middle of the surgery and panics. This causes Katara to panic as well, and he throws up and has to leave. The patient is still taken care of and an adult healer watches over Katara, too. If you want to skip the scene, it starts at "He stays in the healing tents, learning regular medicine and water healing" then ends at "Yugoda lets him have the rest of the class off."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Days after the fever struck Sokka and Katara, after a volcanic eruption forced them to rescue a fortuneteller's village, they found Bato, their honorary uncle. While waiting for news of Hakoda, Bato took Sokka ice dodging and asked if Katara wanted to go the next day, but Katara wanted to wait until their father could do it. After the ice dodging was over, Aang admitted to hiding a message, and Sokka stormed away. Katara finds himself walking through the woods after his brother and still isn't sure what he feels ten minutes onto the trail to their father.</p><p>Bato is as calm as ever, but Sokka is brandishing his boomerang and muttering angrily to himself.</p><p>"Aang's a kid, Sokka," Katara tries to convince him.</p><p>"Whatever."</p><p>"He got scared and thought we'd leave him. He's--"</p><p>"We were going to stay with Aang anyway!" Sokka yells. "It's been two years since we last saw Dad! Aang can run off to ride elephant koi whenever he wants but we can't see our only family?!" Katara winces. "I thought so!"</p><p>Bato finally steps in. "Boys."</p><p>"I just went ice dodging! I'm almost sixteen!"</p><p>"But not yet," Bato says with more than a little snap to his voice. "And you'll still be a boy for a while after that <em>unofficially</em>, and even after all that time has passed, I will still be your senior. So listen to me."</p><p>Sokka's jaw works. When Gran-Gran or Dad needed to get through to Sokka during one of his rants, they'd hold his chin so he'd bite his tongue if he tried to keep talking. Not hard enough to bleed or even hurt, usually, but it grows into a habit that a lot of the rowdier kids tend to develop. That's why the Water Tribes call talkative people short-tongued.</p><p>"Katara's touched on the edges of the real issue here, but Sokka, you're avoiding it entirely because you're letting your anger blind you."</p><p>"What am I--"</p><p>A wolf howls. Even here in an Earth Kingdom forest, even though Bato is in the middle of a lecture, it reminds them all so much of home that they stop to listen. They'll want to change course anyway if there's a whole pack hunting. But no other voices join in.</p><p>"It sounded sad," Katara says.</p><p>"Maybe it's hurt."</p><p>"It's not," Bato tells them. "Wait and listen."</p><p>There are two types of stories the Water Tribe tells. One is called a full moon tale, and it means they can take it at face value. The other is called a boat story, because the prow is the first thing people see--but actually the whole ship is controlled from the back, with the rudder. The prow is usually something to do with animals and the rudder is a high-minded concept like bravery or honor. This is something Hakoda did too, but where their father would have been gentle, Bato is stern. Katara wishes he could pull the drawstring of his hood tighter around his face when he hears the next howl, even more sorrowful than the first.</p><p>"Nothing's changed," Sokka offers. "I guess the pack will realize they're missing someone and go back to find him."</p><p>Katara can't hold back any longer because his brother is missing the point so badly. "Sokka, Bato's talking about--" Bato shakes his head and Katara closes his mouth.</p><p>"I've heard that wolf for the past few days," the older warrior says. "From what I've seen, it has no pack of its own. It's so lonely it's looking for another one."</p><p>"Oh." At last Sokka puts the pieces together and hangs his head.</p><p>Bato puts a hand on Sokka's shoulder. "These last few weeks have been the hardest I've ever gotten through. Even though I knew the other warriors didn't want to leave me behind, and I could catch up with them after a little while, being apart from my brothers in an unfamiliar land was more painful than getting burned. And I am a grown man."</p><p>Sokka blinks away tears.</p><p>"I'm telling you this because even though what Aang did was wrong, he is all alone with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he is a child. You'll be a man in a few months, Sokka. Start thinking like one."</p><p>"I want to see Dad," Sokka says. He sounds nine again.</p><p>"I know. And I also know he misses you--both of you--more than anything in the world."</p><p>"But--" Sokka wipes his eyes and turns around. "We have to go help Aang first."</p><p>"Your father will understand. I know he's proud of you." Sokka throws his arms around Bato's waist and holds on tight for a second before letting go. "Katara, come here."</p><p>Katara hugs his father's best friend, closing his eyes. Even though Bato is taller and he has to be careful about the burns, it's almost like they're back home at the hunting grounds in summer. Hakoda is just out of view and they'll be home with Gran-Gran in a little while. The brief sensation of being back in the South soothes Katara's homesickness, but also makes it worse when he opens his eyes and remembers where they actually are. They're the furthest they've ever been from their village, and about to go further.</p><p>But they go back to the abbey just in time to find Aang getting ready for the next leg of his trip.</p><p>"Guys! You came back!" He runs over to them, grinning--then skids to a halt a few feet away and bows his head. "I'm so sorry. I know what I did was wrong."</p><p>Katara looks at Sokka, since he was the one who actually got angry. His brother is quiet for a few seconds, then says, "It's okay, Aang." And Sokka's the one who holds his arms out. "Come here, kid."</p><p>Aang throws his arms around Sokka's waist and holds on tight.</p><p>- - -</p><p>When they pass by a Fire Nation colony and Aang suggests they go to look at some firebending, the first thing Katara thinks is that the airbender might be a little too eager to prove he's sorry by jumping at the first chance to study. Or he might just be excited about attending a festival, Fire Nation or not--he doesn't have the wariness that Sokka and Katara grew up with.</p><p>As they get into line, Katara realizes it isn't just limited to people dressed in Fire Nation red, but Earth Kingdom citizens too.</p><p>"Oh, you're from the Water Tribe?" the mask seller asks them.</p><p>"Are we not allowed in?" Katara asks.</p><p>"No, no, just making conversation!" The mask seller gives them masks. "On me since it's your first time. Welcome to the festival!"</p><p>He never thought about what the Fire Nation did <em>outside</em> of war. This festival is decked in red, but with gold instead of black, it feels brighter and more cheerful. Aang blends in at once. Children chase each other with sparkling firecrackers, laughing. Passersby give them smiles. Couples hold hands, oblivious to everyone except each other. Parents walk around collecting their children or staring at souvenirs. It's... actually not that much different from Water Tribe festivals, except they have snow instead of fire.</p><p>"That's dangerous," Sokka grumps. He's determined to have a bad time. "Running around with firecrackers. How does the Fire Nation raise their kids?"</p><p>"Says the boy who got in trouble for putting rocks in snowballs," Katara reminds him.</p><p>"That's different."</p><p>"Look, food."</p><p>Sokka wolfs down some fire flakes, apparently a Fire Nation snack, and almost spits them out. It's the same for the skewers of meat that he buys. "Why is everything here so <em>spicy</em>?" he moans.</p><p>"I'm sorry, sir, did you want the mild curry?" the seller asks.</p><p>"Yes, please," Katara says at once. He's handed a bowl of curry that's visibly less red than Sokka's skewer. It's still spicy, but not overwhelming like Sokka's food seems to be.</p><p>A family walks up to order while Sokka's thinking (or, struggling with his pride). The mother orders two bowls, one mild and one hot. She hands the mild one to her children and shares the regular bowl with her husband. Sokka looks after the two kids, making faces as they eat their food in halting bites. Meanwhile the adults happily eat the regular bowl. Katara grins.</p><p>"Well, Sokka? Do you want the kid's meal or the one for grown-ups?"</p><p>Sokka takes another bite of his meat. "Actually--" he wheezes. "The flavor--is growing on me." Half of the fun comes from Katara watching his brother try to eat Fire Nation food and insist that he likes it while tears run down his face.</p><p>They sit down in front of a firebending show. When the performer asks for a volunteer from the audience, Aang jumps up and down waving his hand and Katara decides the kid really is just excited to be part of the festival. "Me! Ooh, pick me!"</p><p>Katara puts a hand on Aang's shoulder. "Lay <em>low</em>, remember?"</p><p>"How about you, little lady?" The performer calls up a girl who isn't at all interested in getting up on stage and looks a little scared. "You will be my captured princess!" He gestures grandly, and a dragon made of fire appears.</p><p>"That's actually very impressive," Sokka says as the girl shrieks for her mother. "To little kids, I guess."</p><p>"Don't worry, young maiden! I will tame this fiery beast!"</p><p>Despite the fact that the performer clearly has enough control over his firebending to make detailed moving art and wouldn't let the girl get hurt, Aang gets swept up in the drama and jumps onstage, airbending the dragon away. That's how they catch the attention of the guards--but also of a scout who's a Fire Nation defector. He helps them lose the guards and leads them to the forest where a firebending master named Jeong Jeong is in hiding.</p><p>At first he refuses to train Aang. Aang goes in anyway, and he changes his mind.</p><p>Katara practices waterbending by the river using his copied scroll while Sokka fishes. When Aang finally comes to the river with Master Jeong Jeong, Katara is surprised to see the man has brown skin that wouldn't look out of place in the Water Tribe. And since he's curious as to how a firebending master works, he watches with an eye on Aang. The first exercise is to stand there, concentrate, and feel the sun. Simple. Katara can see the discipline in it. But it would still be boring even for Katara after a few minutes.</p><p>Aang is a twelve year old nomad. He doesn't last ten seconds. After about an hour of this, Jeong Jeong takes Aang on a hike up a small hill, and the master comes back alone. "I will return for the Avatar once the exercise is done."</p><p>They eat lunch. Jeong Jeong doesn't leave the hut. While cooking dinner, Katara looks around for Aang and realizes Jeong Jeong still hasn't left. Katara gathers up his courage to knock on the door of his hut. "Master?"</p><p>"I have not forgotten the Avatar."</p><p>"Yes, sir." Katara nods out of habit, even though Jeong Jeong can't see it. He goes back to his brother. "Aang's fine."</p><p>When Aang comes back on his own, they both cringe when Jeong Jeong demands, "What are you doing? I did not tell you to stop!"</p><p>"I want you to stop wasting my time!"</p><p>They certainly do <em>not</em> hide like scared polar bear puppies until the next morning.</p><p>When Jeong Jeong starts Aang off with the exercise involving fire, Katara finally realizes why they're around water. The task itself is simple--keeping fire from reaching the edges of a leaf. Katara's fascinated by the level of control. It's so delicate. Not anything like what he thought firebending training would be like. Maybe--shouting and lots of the rapid-fire moves he saw Princess Zuko and other Fire Nation soldiers do.</p><p>Of course Jeong Jeong has a sharp tongue and even sharper eyes, but with so many of the exercises designed to exercise the mind as well as the body, it makes Katara feel like applying that to his own bending. He looks at his copied scroll and goes through the drills with a focus on his thoughts instead of simply the physical movements. Like he's nocking an arrow and focusing on his target.</p><p>To Katara's surprise, his waterbending is much sharper even though he's doing the exact same drill he did yesterday. Jeong Jeong really is a good teacher if Katara's learning something without being directly taught.</p><p>"Jeong Jeong is the worst teacher ever!" Aang explodes. "All he does is leave me alone for hours to concentrate or breathe!"</p><p>"It's discipline," Katara tells him. "My dad taught me how to take care of tools, how to fix them, and then how to make them before I ever picked one up to fight. It took me months before I actually used a bow or a spear."</p><p>"But I don't have months!" Aang cries.</p><p>"No, but it's still a good idea to listen to Jeong Jeong. He's teaching you how to manage fire before you make a flame."</p><p>"But I'm ready for so much more!"</p><p>"Your teacher will be the judge of that," Katara tells him. "He's taught a lot of people, I'm sure. If he says you aren't ready to go past this yet, you're not."</p><p>Aang sulks, but takes his stance again and stares at his leaf. Katara goes back to his training while keeping an eye on the airbender. But he looks away for a second, and when he looks back, Aang suddenly has a flame in his hands.</p><p>"Hey, I did it! Katara, look! I made fire!"</p><p>Instantly Katara draws his water into a circle around him. "Focus, Aang." Aang's attention has been lost--he starts playing with the flame like it's a ball, tossing it back and forth, in front to behind, like the fire juggler at the festival. A blast goes in the opposite direction. Katara winces and sees black snow and red armor. "Aang, quit it!"</p><p>"I wonder how that juggler did it." Aang tosses it into the air and spreads his arms out, making a circle of flame around him. He spins around, grinning right up until Katara bends a huge wave of water onto him, knocking him into the river. "Hey!" Aang clambers out of the water, sputtering. "Katara!"</p><p>"Stop playing around! It's not a toy!" He smells burnt grass or leaves and looks to see one of the nearby trees smoking. "Look, you set that tree on fire. Put that out before Jeong Jeong comes back."</p><p>"Oh, no--I'm sorry--hang on!" Aang sprints over and tries to put it out with airbending, but that makes the flames grow.</p><p>Katara sighs and wades through the river, pushing Aang out of the way. He grabs the smoking branch and breaks it off the tree, tossing it into the water, and it's only then that he realizes it burnt through his glove. He pulls it off and tosses that in the river to reveal a spattering of red blisters.</p><p>"Look," Katara says, taking Aang by the shoulder and showing him the burn. Aang flinches. "This could have been a lot worse. Fire isn't like water or air, it's dangerous."</p><p>"I'm sorry!" Aang cries. "I'm sorry, Katara, I won't ever firebend again!"</p><p>"I never said that," Katara tells him. "You're a quick learner, but discipline is most important for any sort of training. Just mind what your teacher says next time. Anyway, the burn isn't that bad."</p><p>"I'm not supposed to cause <em>any</em> harm to any living being!"</p><p>"You wouldn't if you'd done what Jeong Jeong said."</p><p>"Correct," comes the master's voice. "You are not ready. Leave immediately."</p><p>Aang stomps off.</p><p>"Hey! Katara!" Sokka comes over. "What happened?"</p><p>"Aang got a little too excited about firebending and I had to stop him."</p><p>"You okay?"</p><p>"Blisters."</p><p>It's just dirty, but he doesn't want to leave it alone while he packs. That's asking for infection. Katara makes his way to a part upstream, dipping his hand in the clear water. He winces a little, but it's cool enough to ease the pain and once the wound is clean, he bends it all off so his hand is dry. A sigh from behind him. Katara turns to see Jeong Jeong.</p><p>"I told the boy he lacked discipline."</p><p>"He's a normal twelve-year-old," Katara says. Not an excuse, exactly. The old master doesn't seem angry, just disappointed.</p><p>"Here." Jeong Jeong takes a small jar out of his pocket and takes out the cork. "Aloe and witch-hazel."</p><p>"Thank you, Master." A brief pause while Katara smoothes the burn salve onto his hand and sighs in relief.</p><p>"You are a waterbender."</p><p>"The only one in the South Pole," Katara says as he fishes some cloth out of his pack and wraps his hand up. He tests his grip, taking his spear from his back. In a fight, he'll more than likely pop the blisters, but even so it'll still take less than a week.</p><p>"I've always wished I were blessed like you--even if I had the least skill of any waterbender, I would still be free from this burning curse." He observes Katara's hand. "It is said that great masters of water can heal. I suppose you have not reached that point yet. You have not been trained." </p><p>"Even if I was, I don't think I could. My grandmother told me only women could heal with water."</p><p>"Only women?" Jeong Jeong asks. "Why is that?"</p><p>"Um..." He'd never stopped to think <em>why.</em> "That's just the way it is in my country. Men hunt and fish and fight. Women make clothing and cook. I mean, there's times when we'll have to do them anyway, but no one really... mixes them up. It's stricter in the North, apparently. I guess waterbending separates itself, too."</p><p>"Hmm." The old master doesn't sound disapproving, only fascinated. "We have no such distinction in the Fire Nation. All of our children are taught the same skills and they are given posts according to their individual abilities. If they fight, women will defend the homeland while the men fight outside the borders. When I was younger, both men and women would cook and dance. Then only women did, because they were at least in the home to do so. And now even our little girls are only taught to fight and fight some more."</p><p>"In the South, women fight too," Katara says. "Or they did. But I've never heard of a man healing."</p><p>"Well, perhaps your grandmother is right and only women can heal. Your tribe has lost much knowledge, in no small part due to my people. I heard of the raids of the South. I am deeply sorry."</p><p>Katara smiles and holds his arm out for the forearm clasp. "Well, Master, this is how--"</p><p>Jeong Jeong grabs his forearm, but only to pull Katara behind him and raise a wall of fire to defend them both from a barrage of fire blasts.</p><p>"Get your friends and flee!" he orders. "Do not come back--we will be gone as well!"</p><p>- - -</p><p>His hand heals on its own a few days after the fight--not with Zuko but with Admiral Zhao, who for whatever reason catches up to them much more quickly than the princess, and he has more ships at his disposal as well. With so many more people hunting them, Sokka takes charge of the schedule and they make good time on the rest of the way through the Earth Kingdom. </p><p>A great stretch of empty water greets them as they reach the cold waters of the Northern oceans. After two days, even Katara is sick of it and Appa has settled into swimming rather than flying. It's slow and steady--steadier than a ship--but Sokka complains anyway until Appa bellows and Katara looks up to see an ice wall forming in front of them.</p><p>"Waterbenders!" Katara stands up on Appa's saddle and shouts in Water Tribe, "Brothers!" The waterbenders pause. There are so many of them that he feels both excited and terrified. "We are Katara and Sokka, sons of Chief Hakoda of the South. We come in peace and our friend here is the Avatar."</p><p>They're taken to the High Chief of the North named Arnook.</p><p>"The sons of a Southern Chief," Arnook says. "Well, it is a great honor to host not only the Avatar, but royalty of our sister tribe as well! We haven't had visitors from the South in decades! Prince Sokka and Prince Katara, we will welcome you along with Avatar Aang as honored guests. It will take a while for us to prepare for a feast, so once we get to the city you all can change out of your traveling clothes and explore the city at leisure."</p><p>Katara feels a twinge of guilt. Yes, they are sons of the chief, but not the high chief as Arnook seemed to be. Calling them royalty and having a feast in their honor seems like a little much. "Thank you, Chief Arnook, but these are actually our normal--" Sokka elbows him right in the solar plexus. Katara doubles over with a wheeze of pain as his brother talks over him.</p><p>"We accept your offer, Chief Arnook! We would have taken our royal attire with us all the way from the South, but we were also being chased by Princess Zuko of the Fire Nation, and, well, if we had to make the choice between saving the Avatar and our finest clothing, honor demands that we'd have to choose Aang."</p><p>"Of course," Arnook says warmly. "My wife Nanurjuk will oversee your fittings for new formal suits."</p><p>Aang is fitted first as the Avatar, Sokka second, and Katara last. As soon as Sokka comes out of the room, Katara corners him in the hall. "What was that all about?"</p><p>"I mean, technically it's true," Sokka says. "You did give up your best piece of clothing, or should I say jewelry, to save Aang. And are we not the sons of a chief?"</p><p>"You still lied to get new clothes for free."</p><p>"What's going on out here?" Chieftess Nanurjuk comes out of the room. "Prince Katara? Is something wrong?"</p><p>Sokka shakes his head. "No, no, Chieftess, my brother was just arguing with me about, uh, whether purple or blue would be better."</p><p>Katara sighs. "That's right, Chieftess." He walks into the fitting room. As soon as the door shuts and he hears Sokka practically skipping away, he says, "We aren't princes."</p><p>"Really?" Nanurjuk starts looping a long knotted string around his shoulders and waist anyway. "Are you not the sons of a chief?"</p><p>"I mean, we are--we're the sons of Chief Hakoda. But he's not the <em>high</em> chief."</p><p>"Even the sons of minor chiefs are called princes here, so your brother didn't lie." She measures his arms, legs, and the length from his shoulders to knees, then takes up a brush and writes them down on a piece of paper.</p><p>"But we didn't grow up differently from any other boys in our village," Katara protests. "We didn't grow up in a palace of ice and no one called us Prince or bowed to us. Dad still made us share whatever we hunted with the rest of the village."</p><p>"A very wise decision." Nanurjuk nods without looking up. "But your father is still a chief and you are his two heirs. So you are princes here."</p><p>"And we didn't lose any formal clothes on the way to the North Pole because we don't <em>have</em> any formal clothes."</p><p>"Well, that changes everything!" Katara winces as the Chieftess' voice goes grave. Then she smiles at him and writes down another note. "We'll have two sets of formalwear made for each of you. I'll ask your brother about his other set tomorrow."</p><p>"Um," Katara says.</p><p>"I admit your brother seems to have gotten full of himself," Nanurjuk says gently. "Nothing I haven't seen before, by the way. The first sons are often more arrogant. But where your brother exaggerates his accomplishments and importance, you haven't said a single word about yourself--which is common for second sons. Tell me, Prince Katara, who are you? Aside from your family."</p><p>"I am a waterbender," he says, cautious.</p><p>"Excellent!" she says. "And here I heard there were no waterbenders left in the South."</p><p>"We had to keep it secret," Katara explains. "The raids from the Fire Nation--they took all of our waterbenders away. I haven't been trained, either. What I know I taught myself or learned from a scroll."</p><p>"Then I will send for a waterbending master to teach you as well as the Avatar. I hope you won't protest <em>that.</em>"</p><p>"No," Katara says, so quickly he flushes at his own eagerness. "No, not protesting at all. Thank you very much, Chieftess Nanurjuk."</p><p>She gives him a scroll full of different outfits and tells him to pick two of them, along with whatever colors that he wants. He instinctively tries to pick the least flashy one, but being formal clothes, none of them are actually <em>simple.</em> When he asks the Chieftess if he can remove a few of the details, she gives him a very bright smile and says, "I'm afraid not, Prince Katara. Those details are not only ornamentation but structural support for the seams and stress points underneath them."</p><p>While he's mended clothes and sewn parkas, Katara doesn't know enough about fancy prince clothing to argue with the High Chieftess of the North, so he leaves it alone. The colors he chooses are the ones he's most familiar with--blue and white and dark purple.</p><p>- - -</p><p>The moon sets and rises and sets again, and their clothes are finished then, arriving at their chambers folded into packages of rice paper along with new shoes. Sokka touches up the shaved sides of his wolftail with Katara, then cloisters into his room ("Into my <em>chambers!</em>" he insists) to change. He has not two but four packages. Upon asking the servant why Sokka got both of his outfits, Katara is politely corrected that their second outfits are yet to be finished.</p><p>Katara and Aang finish putting on their clothes, go to the kitchens to get some snacks, and come back to find Sokka still locked away.</p><p>Katara calls, "Sure you don't need a maid to help you dress, bro?"</p><p>"Shut up!" Sokka shouts. "Okay, I'm ready! How do I look?"</p><p>He struts out in what Katara recognizes as the most ornate suit on the scrolls of outfits. He has a long vest to go with the new parka given to him, both embroidered with the triple moon of their family's crest. The tunic's already lavish decoration is emphasized by long flowing sleeves in the Earth Kingdom style. The fur has been replaced by white ostrich horse plumage, his trousers are white with purple stripes, and the belt is made of tiger-seal leather. His boots are also made of tiger-seal skin.</p><p>"I think you look great, Sokka," Aang says. "Princely."</p><p>Katara bursts out laughing.</p><p>- - -</p><p>Seeing as they're <em>at leisure</em> until the feast at moonrise, Sokka takes his sweet time walking around the market, drinking up all the attention he gets even if most people clearly think he looks ridiculous. Katara stays to the side and wanders around looking at all the things they have. There's a lot of Earth Kingdom goods here, but the number of warriors and waterbenders means they are probably much better equipped to defend the trade routes.</p><p>When Aang bumps into a stall for the third time, he has to stick with the kid to keep him from causing property damage.</p><p>"Katara, what are these?" Aang asks. He alternates between squinting and opening his eyes as wide as possible. Considering that the only other people doing that are about eight years old, it makes the airbender seem younger than he is.</p><p>"Lychees," he says patiently.</p><p>"I don't know how anyone does things outside in winter!" Aang exclaims. "Nobody's even carrying a lantern! And the ones at the stalls are too dim!"</p><p>"Remind me to get you one until your eyes adjust."</p><p>"I think my eyes have already adjusted as much as they're going to. Ow!" The airbender lifts his foot and squints at something on the ground. "What did I step on? Was it alive?"</p><p>"No, just a rock."</p><p>"Oh, good."</p><p>"Prince Katara?" comes a girl's voice. "Could I have a word?"</p><p>"Yes," he says, more out of habit than anything. He doesn't recognize the voice and he still feels nervous when people address him as Prince. There's a very beautiful young woman in purple, all the more striking because of her long white hair. "Aang, I know you can find Sokka even in the dark, so stick with him for a second, okay?"</p><p>Aang snickers and runs off. He promptly crashes into a cart. "Ow!"</p><p>"My cabbages!"</p><p>"Sorry!"</p><p>He turns back to the lady. "I'm sorry, we were never introduced."</p><p>"Well, now we are! I am Princess Yue. My father is Chief Arnook." He nods, even more nervous since she's actually been raised like royalty. When he holds out his hand, he realizes too late that there might be a difference, but when she clasps it briefly and lets go, like he was taught, he's relieved. At least one thing isn't different.</p><p>"Pleased to meet you, Princess. I'm..." He decides to say it. "Prince Katara of the South."</p><p>"My father told me you and your brother came all the way from the South Pole to protect the Avatar on his journey here. Tell me, how is it back there?"</p><p>"It's, uh..." He has to think very hard about what he's going to say because as far as she knows, she's just making small talk. He doesn't want to lie, but he also doesn't want to take the conversation down a very unexpected and depressing turn. "It's not quite as peaceful in the South."</p><p>"How so?"</p><p>The raid that took all of their waterbenders and his mother, how the Fire Nation navy kept blocking trade so food and clothing and everything else was harder to come by, the fact that they haven't seen their father in two years... "We're closer to the Fire Nation, so we see more of the war." He can't bring himself to say anything else.</p><p>"Forgive me," Princess Yue says after a long silence. "I didn't realize it was such a difficult question."</p><p>He nods tightly. "It's not your fault."</p><p>"To be honest, I came here because I wanted to ask you something. There is something strange about you."</p><p>"Stranger than white hair?" Katara asks, grateful for the change in subject.</p><p>"I meant your soul!" She laughs, a very charming sound.</p><p>"What's strange about my soul, Princess Yue?" Katara asks.</p><p>"It echoes."</p><p>He has no idea what to say. "Um..."</p><p>"But the echo is very far away," Yue says, stretching her arm out across the ocean.</p><p>Katara remembers the spirit-trap and warns her, "It's not a very nice story, but I'll tell it if you want to hear."</p><p>"Please." She folds her hands into her sleeves to listen, and Katara suddenly feels a lot more at ease around her.</p><p>"When I was eight, my mother died. I was close to where it happened, so my grandmother made a false grave to keep me safe from vengeful spirits attracted by the violence." Yue nods. "I'm surprised you could tell from all the way here in the North Pole. Are you a shaman?"</p><p>"No." Yue looks out across the ocean and her hair gleams. "But I know something of spirits. When I was born, I was very sick and weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but I didn't. Midwife Yugoda did everything she could, but she told my mother and father I was going to die. My father pleaded with the spirits to save me. That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond. My dark hair turned white. I opened my eyes and began to cry, and they knew I would live. That's why my mother named me Yue. For the moon."</p><p>"Thank you for telling me that," he says.</p><p>"Katara!" Aang comes up. "Oh, hi, Princess Yue," he says, and Yue smiles at him. "Hey, Katara, Sokka and I were just looking for you."</p><p>"Princess," Katara says, bowing before he follows Aang back.</p><p>"Where have you been?" Sokka demands. "Who was that girl you were talking to?"</p><p>"Just making small talk with Princess Yue, Arnook's daughter," Katara says. "You know, since we're royalty."</p><p>"About what?" Sokka's jealousy could not be any more obvious.</p><p>Katara sighs. "She said there was something strange about my soul and I told her about the spirit trap. She told me a story of when she was sick and the moon spirit healed her."</p><p>"Really?" Sokka asks. "That's your idea of small talk? She's a Princess, Katara!"</p><p>"<em>She's</em> the one who brought it up." Katara shrugs. "I think she's still around. Go apologize to her for your morbid younger brother, Prince Sokka."</p><p>- - -</p><p>For their waterbending lesson on the moonset after the feast, Aang's dressed up in a saffron and orange coat made from woven arctic camel wool, but Katara is wearing his regular clothes. He's never seen so many waterbenders his age. Grandmaster Pakku has multiple classes. There are <em>other</em> waterbending teachers. He can't get his head around it at first.</p><p>One of the other students twists his ankle and Katara watches, wondering if they'll get an impromptu demonstration of healing since Jeong Jeong said great masters could do it. But the only bending Pakku does is to make some ice. When the lesson is over, he comes up and asks, "Grandmaster?"</p><p>"Yes, son?"</p><p>"I was wondering if we would learn how to heal with waterbending."</p><p>"Oh, that's women's work," he says.</p><p>But what Jeong Jeong said keeps pricking his thoughts like a burr he can't get rid of. If it's true that the Fire Nation started out teaching everyone the same skills and only changed it later, it might mean that nothing's actually stopping Katara. Has anyone ever tried? Or did they just blindly follow what everyone told them?</p><p>Katara tests the point of his spear and pricks a little deeper than usual so a drop of blood wells up. He uses the smallest, gentlest of motions as he dips his injured hand in the water. Not to harm, he thinks, focusing his chi on the cut, but to heal. He understands the necessity of killing, for food and defense, but ever since his mother died, he's always wanted to heal. Zuko is a woman and fights with her fire. Maybe...</p><p>The water glows. When he lifts his hand, there is no cut.</p><p>He goes to the healer's tent early in the morning. A brief look in reveals only girls, which dampens his spirits a little, but he goes in anyway. "Midwife Yugoda?"</p><p>"Yes, dear?" comes a call from the back.</p><p>"I have a request."</p><p>"Oh, don't worry about being polite," she says kindly. "Depending on where you're hurt, I'll be seeing far too much of you--"</p><p>"I'm, um, not hurt."</p><p>This does catch her attention and she looks up. "Just married, then?" She scrutinizes him. "You look a little young..."</p><p>The apprentices whisper something to each other and giggle. Katara tries to fight a blush and knows he's losing. "Uh, no, I'm not hurt or married. I wanted to learn to heal."</p><p>"Oh, you're in training!" Midwife Yugoda says it so warmly that Katara thinks maybe Pakku was wrong after all. "Come back tomorrow after breakfast and I'll start you off with the basics."</p><p>Katara finishes his breakfast in record time, making his way to the Midwife's tent a few minutes early. He's more than excited to see a few other boys around his age--maybe they also tried to heal, like him, and he doesn't recognize them because they were in Pakku's other classes or even training under different masters--because here, there are other teachers than Pakku. Except, as the lesson goes on, Yugoda teaches them regular field medicine, not how to heal with water.</p><p>Maybe this is like how his father taught him to make his own weapons before he used them. He does learn much more than what his grandmother taught him, about frostbite and dressing wounds and splinting bones and brewing medicinal teas. But after a few days, he learns that the boys aren't waterbenders at all, and Yugoda dismisses him along with them.</p><p>The next day he enters the healer's tent and finds himself again the only boy in a tent full of girls and women. The Midwife is still preparing for the next lesson and her apprentices are wandering the cots, examining their patients, or talking quietly amongst themselves to keep from waking anyone.</p><p>"Midwife Yugoda?"</p><p>"Yes, Katara?"</p><p>"I'm here to continue my healer's training."</p><p>"Continue?" she asks. "But I've already taught you everything you need to know about field medicine."</p><p>"Midwife Yugoda, is it true that waterbenders can heal with their chi?"</p><p>"Yes, dear."</p><p>"Well, <em>I'm</em> a waterbender!" he exclaims, unable to hold back his impatience or excitement. "And I would be honored if you taught me how to heal."</p><p>"That's very sweet, young man, but it's only taught to women because men can't heal with waterbending."</p><p>"I can."</p><p>The light chatter in the tent stops.</p><p>"You can try," Yugoda says.</p><p>"I have--and I can."</p><p>"Show me." She gives him a bowl of water and gestures to one of the cots, a sleeping little girl with frost bitten hands. "This is the simplest healing technique. Feel where her flesh has frozen and melt the ice without causing pain."</p><p>Katara concentrates. He feels the ice, mostly in her fingertips, and gently nudges along the warming process while easing the pain. His hands glow; the girl stirs a bit, but only to turn onto her other side. In a moment, her hands have returned to a healthy brown. When he looks up at Yugoda, she's staring at him in amazement along with a circle of other apprentices.</p><p>"Gods and spirits," the Midwife says. "A man who heals."</p><p>"Do you have a woman's soul?" asks one of the older apprentices, who looks about sixteen. "One of my friends was born in a boy's body but changed her name and wore women's clothes--and she isn't a bender, but our village's shaman took her as apprentice."</p><p>Katara shakes his head. "No, I don't want to be a woman, and I've never been called by the gods."</p><p>"A man who heals," Yugoda says again. "If you want to be taught, I will teach you because we can always use more healers; but your master might not be so willing. What is his name, Katara?"</p><p>"My master is Pakku." They all groan. "What?"</p><p>"The Grandmaster is the most fixed in his ways of all the elders," Yugoda tells him. "Pakku doesn't train women to fight, something a few of my girls could tell you all about--" A few of said girls scoff. "He certainly won't let you learn to heal. Other teachers at least let their students ask, but Pakku never even lets his boys come here unless they've got an injury he can see or they're learning field medicine. I'm surprised that you of all people could do it. What village are you from?"</p><p>Yes, he recalls. They have more villages here, not scattered as far as the ones in the South--or if they are, they have waterbenders to usher sleds faster. "I'm from the South Pole, not here. From what my grandmother told me, women did fight. But I was also told men couldn't heal. I only tried a few days ago."</p><p>"Well, Katara of the South, you have proven us all wrong and you will change the entire way people think about bending--but for the moment, let's be discreet."</p><p>- - -</p><p>"Katara," Pakku says after their latest lesson concludes. "I'd like to have a word with you." Katara hasn't done anything wrong. Actually, he's been doing well in class, judging from the lack of scowls that he gets from the Grandmaster. Aang shoots a worried look and Katara waves for him to go on.</p><p>"Yes, Master?" He tries to keep his voice steady.</p><p>"I notice you've been going to the healer's tent for quite a while," Pakku says. "But seeing as you perform quite well in classes, you don't have any injury I can see. I was very curious as to what would keep you going there for so long."</p><p>"Field medicine," he says at once. "It's a lot more thorough than what I learned at the South Pole."</p><p>"Very well."</p><p>Katara's still a little late. "Sorry," he says. "Pakku asked where I was going."</p><p>"Ooh!" Ayana, a girl around his age, comes up to him. "You can pretend you have a crush on me."</p><p>"Thanks," he says. "Wait--he won't let me come here if it's <em>that</em>, either."</p><p>"You could--"</p><p>"<em>Nobody</em> is going to pretend to have a crush on <em>anyone!</em>" Yugoda says firmly over the girl's laughter. But she sounds pretty close to laughing herself, so any sternness is softened. "Come to the class after moonset, Katara. It's midwinter, he'll have his hands full with beginners."</p><p>After a few days, Katara checks the hall and walks out of his rooms. He's not doing anything wrong, he assures himself. He's not sneaking around. He's just trying to compromise between Pakku's inflexibility and the fact that he's trying to make the most of a skill that would be incredibly useful. Once he's out of the palace, he relaxes a little. Then the wall in front of him slides like a door and Pakku steps out from behind it.</p><p>"Might I ask where are you going, Prince Katara?"</p><p>Maybe he should have done a little more sneaking. But if he's caught he might as well be honest. "I'm learning to heal from Midwife Yugoda," he says. "With waterbending."</p><p>"That is impossible," Pakku tells him. "Katara, you could become a great warrior. A master, even. Your time and energy could be better used to further those skillsets. Don't listen to Yugoda's lectures--you will only ever be able to learn healing in theory, not practice. Men cannot heal. Women cannot fight. That is how things have been in our culture since before even I was born."</p><p>"That might be a part of <em>your</em> culture, but in the South I know women can and did fight in the war. So maybe men can heal too. And maybe this whole mindset of thinking men can only do one thing while women can only do the other is all <em>wrong.</em>"</p><p>The grandmaster looks absolutely dumbfounded, and Katara uses it as an opening to run all the way to the healer's hut.</p><p>"Katara?" Yugoda asks as he steps in and catches his breath.</p><p>"Pakku is--"</p><p>"Katara!" Pakku shouts, throwing open the door. "This is a waste of your time!"</p><p>"No it isn't, because I <em>can</em> heal!"</p><p>"Not with waterbending--"</p><p>Katara puts his hand on the training dummy and makes it glow, making sure to keep eye contact with the grandmaster.</p><p>The girls laugh and Yugoda looks quite smug. "You were saying?" the Midwife asks.</p><p>"Then you are arnaq, not angut!" Pakku snarls. "I knew the South had gone to the dogs!" Katara flinches. "Stay with Yugoda for all I care--but from now on, you and your backwards ways are no longer welcome in my classes!"</p><p>Even though Katara knew this would happen, even though he does value healing, he still wanted to learn martial bending too. And the jab at the South, at his <em>home</em>, hurts too much for him to put up any sort of argument. Yugoda puts a hand on his shoulder while he tries not to cry. "I daresay you could heal, too, if you had ever tried."</p><p>"Don't test me, Midwife!" Pakku storms out.</p><p>The whole class is dead silent. Katara wipes his eyes and says shakily, to no one in particular, "I'm sorry."</p><p>"No, Katara, it's not your fault." Yugoda hugs him--and even though he appreciates it, everything is just a little too different, too unfamiliar, for him to be truly comforted. He's still homesick, but realizing that only makes him feel worse. Even as he cries into her shoulder, he wishes he was back at the South Pole with Gran-Gran. "Those were all terrible things to say, even for him."</p><p>"He's just a terrible, sour old man," someone snaps.</p><p>"Take a moment if you need it," Yugoda assures. "Or go home. You won't be able to learn anything if you're so upset, much less heal."</p><p>He can go to bed, but he can't really go <em>home.</em> It's all the way across the world. "I'll stay here," Katara decides. He keeps to a corner, trying to listen, but eventually giving up and resting his head on the wall.</p><p>He cheers up a little in the morning after he remembers that there are other teachers, but not when he's turned down over and over. After asking around, he learns that, unfortunately, all of the other masters in the capital were taught by Pakku himself and they defer to his judgment when taking on students. Katara doesn't understand why this hurts so much more than the teasing he got when he was a kid until Sokka asks why he isn't at waterbending practice with Aang.</p><p>"You can heal? I thought only women could do that."</p><p>"I guess we thought wrong. I found out a couple of days ago."</p><p>"Why aren't you training with Aang? That shouldn't take more than a few hours."</p><p>Katara looks down. "Pakku called me a girl and he said he doesn't train girls."</p><p>"But that's useful," Sokka says. "And you're the only Southern waterbender we know of. If you're going to go back home and teach the new benders, you might as well learn both so you can teach both. Unless someone goes down there."</p><p>The teasing Katara got in the South, when other boys made fun of him for doing women's work, that was like a ripple on the surface of a pool. It didn't really affect his life, just his mood. It was the same sort of teasing Sokka got for being clumsy, or short for his age. They both know for a fact that Southern men have to patch their clothes and cook for themselves on long trips, and they taught their sons to do it as well. He knows that in the South, men still respected women's work as a whole because it was just as necessary as hunting or fighting, and that's why they don't harm women.</p><p>These Northern men actually believe that women's work is not only different but <em>inferior.</em> Weaker. Like a pool of water that looks fine but still can't be drunk because it's full of salt or poison, they're using the code of honor in a way that shows no respect but condescension.</p><p>He stays in the healing tents, learning regular medicine and water healing.</p><p>Unlike Sokka, Katara keeps wearing his regular clothes and saves his formalwear for formal occasions--especially since healing is <em>messy</em> and <em>bloody </em>even with water bending and an extra apron. He thought it would be better than hunting, seeing as he's trying to save a life instead of ending it. But shooting an arrow or skinning meat is not nearly the same as digging a knife out of a living, breathing human's leg, even if they're out cold with sleeping medicine.</p><p>It's even worse if the medicine wasn't strong enough and the patient wakes up in the middle. For that one, Katara was just watching and listening, as well as mopping up blood. But as he did so, the patient opened his eyes and screamed. Katara panicked and had to be led out by one of the other healers. When he's slowed down enough to register his surroundings, he's shivering outside with the scream still echoing in his head. The blood's frozen on his apron and hands and makes it extremely difficult to do anything.</p><p>"It's all right," the woman assures him as she rubs his back, the only unbloody part of him. He can't remember her name. "Breathe. It's not your fault. It happens sometimes. Either the medicine was a weaker batch, or he had a higher tolerance for it, or both. Having a patient wake up during a big job is kind of like ice dodging for girls--I mean--" Katara is too busy concentrating on his breathing to do much more than nod in answer. She corrects herself. "It's kind of like ice dodging. You know, scary and loud, lots of screaming, sometimes everyone ends up covered in blood--"</p><p>"Katara?" Yugoda calls. "He's back to sleep. How are you feeling?"</p><p>Katara takes one more deep breath, then stands up and bows to the healer. "Thank you." She smiles and gives him a thumbs up. "I think I'm okay, Yugoda."</p><p>"All right. Come back in and watch me--"</p><p>He doubles over and throws up.</p><p>Yugoda lets him have the rest of the class off.</p><p>It turns out there is a whole group of healers whose entire job is to make sure the other healers, especially apprentices, are healthy and mentally balanced enough to work. The woman who took him outside is one of them and her name is Tutega. She tells him that he isn't sick, his body is just reacting to so much stress in the only way it can, and she gives him a half ounce of lavender tea to calm his nerves. Even with the tea, he's jumpy and keeps to corners a little more until he recovers.</p><p>But when the tale of a boy healing with water spreads, it gets attention. Some students--pointedly, not anyone from Pakku's classes--come to the healing tents to see if it's true. Yugoda welcomes them in and allows them to watch Katara, then try for themselves. None of them can do it, and nobody knows why.</p><p>"Ask the kids," Aang suggests. "You haven't lived here all your life, so even though you're older, your beliefs aren't as rigid. Kids are even more flexible. I'll ask Chief Arnook."</p><p>A few days later, Aang comes in with a bunch of little boys and girls, who touch their hands to the practice dummy one after the other. While it's not an even split, there are three or four boys among the girls who heal, enough that Katara isn't as much of an outlier. Yugoda adores them. But still.</p><p>"It's not <em>fair!</em>" one of the healers says once the children are out. "How many other healers could we have trained if Pakku wasn't so stupid about keeping men and women separate? And once these boys are eight, they'll be forced to choose--but it still won't be an actual <em>choice</em> because if they pick healing, they'll be humiliated like Katara was."</p><p>"Quiet," Yugoda tells them.</p><p>"Yugoda!"</p><p>"I agree with you," she says. "But ultimately, we're treating the symptoms, not the cause."</p><p>A silence falls, but one full of excitement.</p><p>"Class is cancelled tomorrow," Yugoda tells them. "If anyone wants to learn martial bending, meet me here at moonrise."</p><p>- - -</p><p>Katara looks in his closet about an hour before moonrise and decides to wear his nice suit--the first one he got when he came here. He's got that same tense excitement he feels when he knows there's a fight coming, but (and he can admit this to himself, at least) he also doesn't want to be called backwards again. Nanurjuk had said he was a prince here, no matter how he was raised, because he is the son of a chief. Maybe dressing that way will make him feel more confident.</p><p>"Where are you going all dressed up?" Sokka asks.</p><p>"Midwife Yugoda is going to confront Grandmaster Pakku on his misogyny and how it's holding him and our entire culture back. All of her apprentices who want to learn to fight are going too."</p><p>"Oh. Good luck with that, bro."</p><p>Sokka disappears back into his chambers. A look in the mirror reveals Katara just looks like a scared boy in fancy clothes. What was it Dad told him?</p><p>"Wait--Katara," Sokka says.</p><p>"What?" he snaps.</p><p>"The only way to be brave is to first be afraid."</p><p>Katara smiles. "Thanks." He adjusts his collar and feels a little less scared. "You're still not coming, are you?"</p><p>"A true warrior knows when it's time to fight and time to run." The door slides shut. Katara sighs.</p><p>When he meets up with Yugoda and the healers, the Midwife goes into grandmotherly mode. "Oh, Katara, you look so handsome," she coos. Some of the apprentices giggle. "But why are you wearing that?"</p><p>"I am the son of a Southern chief," he says. "I wanted to remind Pakku of that." <em>I also wanted to remind myself</em>, he thought.</p><p>"You're a <em>prince?</em>" several girls exclaim. "But you wear normal clothes!"</p><p>"I don't wear nice clothes when I might get them covered in blood!" Or if he throws up... He should have just worn his normal clothes. But it's too late to change now, so he follows the apprentices and the healers and the Midwife.</p><p>When they reach the training arena, the Grandmaster glares. The girls hide behind Katara and the older apprentices and the Midwife. "You may have swayed the Midwife, Katara of the South, but I will not train women. Nor will I continue to train <em>you,</em> despite the Avatar's insistence."</p><p>"Sorry, Katara," Aang says.</p><p>"It's okay."</p><p>"So you called Katara arnaq, not angut," Yugoda says. "But you've already trained Katara! Therefore, by your own words, you have already trained a woman. Tell me, what was the matter? Was she not diligent?"</p><p>"I admit I lost my temper, Midwife, but the truth is, Katara is a boy and there is no changing that. I refuse to train him because he specifically ignored my orders."</p><p>"Are we as a people not fluid and adaptable as our element? Whether salt or sweet, frozen or warm, water is still water. Even without a flame, ice always melts in the end. It is not our way to be rooted in the past. When something changes, we change with it. My students agree, and they wish to learn martial bending."</p><p>He sighs. "Most of those girls are too old, Yugoda."</p><p>"I believe Katara is <em>much</em> older than eight, yet you still took him on. My senior apprentices are sixteen at the oldest."</p><p>"He learns fast and studies hard," Pakku admits, as grudging a compliment as possible.</p><p>Yugoda winks at Katara, then turns to Pakku's pupils. "Boys?"</p><p>"Yes, Midwife."</p><p>"Do you have any objections to training with girls?"</p><p>"Um..." One pupil raises his hand. "But my dad told me not to hit girls."</p><p>"Mine too--how will we train without hitting them?"</p><p>"That is a sign of respect and I am glad your fathers teach you so," Yugoda tells them. "But men will not always be there to protect women, and women will not always be there to dress wounds. Suppose while you are a hunting trip, the women at home fall under attack. Would it be better to wait for the men to return, or for the women to defend themselves at once?"</p><p>"Defend themselves," the class echoes.</p><p>"And their attackers will most likely be men, who are taller and stronger. While sparring in class, you do not seriously injure your fellow pupils, do you?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Then there is no true harm done, is there?" She asks, "Now, is there any other reason you think girls and boys should not both be trained?"</p><p>They all shake their heads. Yugoda turns to Pakku with a smile. "My students have spoken, and your students have spoken as well. It appears you are the only one refusing to change your mind."</p><p>"Midwife, you've made your point!" Pakku waves to the healers and apprentices. "Come, girls." They step forward hesitantly. "Whether you study with me or someone else, give them your full attention."</p><p>"Yes, Grandmaster."</p><p>"Do not use sparring sessions as an excuse to play with your friends."</p><p>"Yes, Grandmaster."</p><p>"Practice an hour outside of training on your own, every day, diligently."</p><p>"Yes, Grandmaster."</p><p>"Beginner's lessons are held after lunch in this arena. Beginning tomorrow, be prompt."</p><p>"Yes, Grandmaster."</p><p>There is a long silence as he scans their eyes, one by one. They meet his gaze, some with chins trembling, but all of them brave. At last, Pakku exclaims, "How very well-behaved you all are!" A nervous giggle spreads throughout the group. The Grandmaster casts a disdainful eye on his other students, who fidget. "It took me ten minutes to get this lot to agree to just one of those terms! Never mind keeping the Avatar's attention."</p><p>"I'm not that bad!" Aang protests.</p><p>"Get down from there," Pakku orders without looking.</p><p>Aang floats down from the terrace he was perched on with a sheepish grin.</p><p>The two classes merge with Aang in the middle of it, still bumping into people on occasion. Katara stands to the side, watching. He could give the excuse that he's in his suit, but the truth is he still feels a twinge in his throat when he thinks about studying under Pakku again.</p><p>"Katara."</p><p>Yugoda gives him a concerned look instantly as Pakku approaches. Katara summons all his courage to stay in place and look the Grandmaster in the eye. "Master Pakku."</p><p>"<em>Prince</em> Katara," Pakku corrects himself. "I am your elder and I was, however briefly, your teacher. It is my responsibility to be an example for you. But when we last spoke, I failed in that duty. I said things which I should not have said--about you and your people's ways. Common insults which are supposed to be beneath my status. They were untrue, which is dishonor enough, but I can see also that they hurt you, a boy only trying to do his best in an impossible situation. I apologize and I resolve not to do that again with you or anyone else. You are welcome to join my class once more. If you wish not to study with me again, I understand and I will recommend you to any other master in the North."</p><p>"May I make my decision tomorrow, Grandmaster?"</p><p>"Of course."</p><p>At moonset, he puts on his normal clothes and enters the training arena. Pakku greets him with a nod and the other students, boys and girls, circle him.</p><p>"Don't think we'll go easy now that we know you're a prince!" one of his former classmates says.</p><p>"You say that like I didn't stomp you into the ground a few weeks ago."</p><p>The stars above them are different and the people are too, but when laughter surrounds Katara from Aang and other kids, other waterbenders in a place also covered in snow, that also uses the moon instead of the sun in the three-month night of winter, it settles something in Katara that he hadn't known was upset. Or maybe he was ignoring it--his homesickness finally eases.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Blood in the Snow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Guys," Katara calls, standing outside in the hall. "I'm back. Open the doors." The reason he doesn't want to is because he's covered in blood that's either dried or frozen.</p><p>"Ahhh, gross gross gross!" Sokka jumps to open the front door and the washroom door, covering his mouth and nose, then clings to the far wall as Katara trudges past. "Aang!"</p><p>Aang circles his hand so a gentle breeze carries the smell of blood out of the room. "Katara, I understand that you're learning the noble art of healing wounds and illness, and I respect that," he says. "I just feel like respecting it all the way from over here."</p><p>"I know, Aang," he assures the airbender. "Sokka, why are <em>you</em> being squeamish? You started hunting before I did."</p><p>"But that's animal blood, and animals are tasty and nutritious--unless you're a vegetarian, sorry Aang," Sokka says. "<em>Human</em> blood is a sign that something is very, very wrong. Name one time where bleeding is a good thing."</p><p>Katara actually can name something, but doesn't say it out of respect. He scrubs his clothes with salt and lemon juice that he unfreezes, then leaves them to soak in the water.</p><p>The first time his apron failed miserably and blood stained his regular clothes, he resigned himself to asking Nanurjuk for another outfit or six. Then Yugoda asked if he knew how to get bloodstains out and taught him that salt and lemon would be most effective. "I should have known you'd have a trick up your sleeve," he said, relieved. Although he might have another set of work clothes made anyway. "You've been a healer since before I was born."</p><p>"Oh, every woman learns how to get blood out of clothes, dear," Yugoda told him. "How old are you, fourteen? When you get old enough to bear--"</p><p>"Yugoda!" Anaya shouted. "Katara's a <em>boy!</em>"</p><p>The room dissolved into giggles that go way over Katara's head.</p><p>"Well, I did forget that," Yugoda said. "But seeing as it's not a secret, I might as well tell you anyway after class. Boys should know these things, too."</p><p>Every single one of the girls shrieked with laughter and stayed just to see Katara's reactions. What followed was an extremely thorough discussion about women's bodies that made Katara's face burn, especially since the apprentices would add their own personal experiences. He hadn't asked any questions whatsoever and bolted as soon as Yugoda felt mercy and dismissed him.</p><p>Once Katara finishes his own bath, he puts on a fresh set of clothes and decides he has enough time for a nap before training with Pakku.</p><p>"Awww," he hears Sokka say. "All tuckered out, Nuka? You want a blanket?" </p><p>"Wake me up in twenty minutes or I will gut you."</p><p>"Sure thing." Sokka pulls a blanket over him. "Hey Aang," Katara hears. "Can you wake Katara in twenty minutes?"</p><p>"Where are you going?"</p><p>"Surveying what the land of my sister tribe has to offer. I am a Prince and I have to know these things in order to rule effectively."</p><p>"I'm pretty sure it'll take more than twenty minutes for you to put on your princely regalia," Aang snickers.</p><p>"Well, wake him up anyway! You're training with him!"</p><p>"Okay, okay!"</p><p>Sokka throws on his clothes and walks to a bridge where Princess Yue waits, shrouded in moonlight. When she hears him, she turns around with her white hair glowing almost with a light of its own. Her smile does strange things to his heart. "Prince Sokka. I'm glad you could find the time to speak with me again."</p><p>- - -</p><p>"Yes, strength is important in waterbending," Pakku lectures, circling the class, "But brute force is not the way of water. We are not earthbenders to crack boulders. We specialize in the transfer of energy. From ice to water, or from our opponent to ourselves. This is how we let our defense turn into our offense. Think of an iron fist in a glove of velvet. Katara, Sangok."</p><p>They nod and get up in front of the class.</p><p>"Sangok, do as you will. Katara, come here."</p><p>Grandmaster Pakku takes out a length of cord and ties Katara's hand behind his back.</p><p>"Now, <em>I</em> trust you to use only one hand, but this is for the benefit of your fellow pupils. I am not simply freezing your hand in place behind your back because your sparring partner may be tempted to use it to his advantage. Also, it will melt. Demonstrate the push-hands drill. No bending. The exercise ends when one of you is on the ground. Sangok, you'll be the attacker. On my count. Three... two..."</p><p>As soon Pakku finishes counting, Sangok goes for a middle jab at Katara's solar plexus. He allows it to connect, then twists to the side and with his free hand grabs Sangok's forearm to redirect his lunge straight into the ground.</p><p>"Go, Katara!" one of the girls shouts.</p><p>"Hmm," Pakku says. "I may have overestimated the time needed. Katara, come here again."</p><p>"May I ask what you'll do next, sir?" Katara asks. All of the other students laugh briefly before quieting themselves.</p><p>"You'll find out soon enough." Pakku takes out a pair of wooden snow goggles and, after a moment of thought, blocks the slits with a handful of snow. Then he ties them around Katara's eyes. "Sangok, you are still the attacker. Take your stances."</p><p>While Katara can't see, he can hear Sangok's breathing, slightly raspy with cold. But he realizes can't see which side Sangok is attacking from, so he inhales and exhales evenly as Pakku counts from three, two, one--</p><p>Sangok rarely uses low stances, so no matter what side it's on, it's either high or middle. Katara takes a step back, then lunges as low as he can to the side and circles around so they've reversed positions. Sangok whips around with a crunch of snow and charges forward. Katara feels a hand against his bound shoulder and meets it as Pakku has taught them--by giving, bending backwards with the shove until he feels Sangok waver at the limit of his balance. Then he hooks his foot around Sangok's ankle and manages an altered sweep kick that knocks his opponent's feet from under him.</p><p>The class applauds.</p><p>"Very well," comes Pakku's voice from somewhere to his left. "Pupil Sangok, work hard over the next few years and I'm sure you'll be able to take on a sea sponge or something else that won't be able to move. Katara--good job, son." Katara nods and waits for Pakku to untie him. Instead, the grandmaster continues, "Now, notice that when Sangok started, Katara got under his attack by--"</p><p>"Sir?" Katara asks. "Aren't you going to untie me?"</p><p>"You have one hand free, don't you?" The class explodes into laughter. "Quiet!"</p><p>Katara sighs and slices through the cord with a shard of ice before taking off the snow goggles and handing them back to the Grandmaster.</p><p>"Notice how Katara got under Sangok's first attack by lunging low, because Sangok never uses low strikes. You won't always have the luxury of knowing your opponents' fighting style beforehand, but it is handy to hone your awareness so that you can spot habits, tics, or weak spots as soon as possible."</p><p>"Ooh!" Aang's hand shoots up. "Grandmaster?"</p><p>"Yes, Pupil Aang."</p><p>"I met--uh, another master who could tell that I hadn't learned waterbending yet just from the way I walked. Is that the same thing?"</p><p>"Yes, it is, Pupil Aang. In fact, you three come up here. Aang, Eun-Su, Ukiuk."</p><p>Pakku's picked a healers' apprentice and one of his older students. He walks the class through noticing their individual differences as they go through the same basic movements.</p><p>Ukiuk was chosen because he demonstrates perfect standard waterbending form.</p><p>In contrast, Aang barely lets his heels touch the ground when he's left to his own devices and his stances are generally narrower, which is good for air-style dodging but doesn't give waterbending moves the force for heavier offensive moves and solid defense.</p><p>Eun-Su is very good when it comes to the upper arm movements and fine control of water, which comes from her healing background, and she is also very accurate when it comes to ranged attacks for the same reason, but at the same time she lacks core and root strength which means she can get knocked down easily.</p><p>"Note that while I correct you more or less constantly compared to standard form, these differences are not necessarily bad things," Pakku continues. "It is, however, helpful to be aware of your own habits, in case you come across someone with a fighting style that would be more effective against yours. Or, depending on skill, ineffective. Aang, Eun-Su, spar freestyle for a few minutes--only with waterbending, mind."</p><p>With Aang's nimbleness and Eun-Su's rapid-fire ice spears, the spar devolves into a dodging game with acrobatics and long throws.</p><p>"Eun-Su!" Pakku shouts, startling all of them. "I know you have better aim than that! Aang isn't even out of breath--look at how he's laughing!"</p><p>"But what if I hit Aang?" she asks. "He's the Avatar!"</p><p>"If you hit the Avatar, you can heal him later!" Aang gulps. "I told you to spar, not to play games!"</p><p>Eun-Su takes a deep breath, then steels herself and focuses. She hits closer, mostly aiming at Aang's arms or legs rather than his head or torso. When one of them scrapes past Aang's forearm, ripping his sleeve and dotting the snow with blood, Katara winces and moves forward on instinct.</p><p>"No helping, Katara! This is why I don't let you spar with Aang! You're too soft on him!" Katara crosses his arms and watches until the grandmaster turns back, then he drops his gaze. But Pakku shouts without looking, "Keep watching!" He sighs and brings his chin up.</p><p>Sangok comes over after the class. "Hey, Katara. Good match."</p><p>"Hi, Sangok," he says, clasping forearms with his fellow.</p><p>"I really thought I was going to win when the Grandmaster put those goggles on you!" Sangok laughs. "How do you do it? I've been training for years and you keep wiping the floor with me!"</p><p>"When we came up here from the South Pole, Aang was being tracked by the Fire Nation the whole way. A fiery death is good motivation for learning fast."</p><p>"Wow, cool!" Sangok exclaims, which throws Katara more off-balance than any physical attack. "Maybe once I get onto patrols I'll get better too!"</p><p>"Yeah, probably," he says. "I have to get Aang. See you next class."</p><p>Eun-Su gets to him first. "Hi, Katara. You okay?"</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>She nods solemnly. "And was that an actual yes or just habit?"</p><p>He sighs. "Habit."</p><p>"You want to talk about it?"</p><p>"No, but maybe I should since you're asking me about it."</p><p>"You don't have to... but I could always use a little more practice." She gives him a patient silence.</p><p>"I don't know why it's hard for me to watch Aang spar," Katara admits. "I can watch other people. And I can spar with other people too."</p><p>"Maybe it has something to do with what you just told Sangok."</p><p>"A fiery death is good motivation for learning fast?" She nods. "But we're safe here," Katara points out. "And I know Pakku won't let anyone get seriously hurt."</p><p>"Your <em>head</em> knows that--" Eun-Su taps his forehead. "But your <em>heart</em> doesn't know the difference, especially with someone you care about. People come home from war and they jump at loud noises for years afterwards."</p><p>"Oh!" Katara says. "My dad said something like this after my mom died."</p><p>"You're such a good patient," Eun-Su tells him.</p><p>"Thanks."</p><p>"I hate it!" she exclaims, making him laugh. "I want a challenge! Why do you think I joined this class?"</p><p>- - -</p><p>For every night of Yue's sixteen years after dinner, Nanurjuk has gone to her daughter's chambers to brush out Yue's remarkable white hair. Today is no different. With a whale-tooth comb, she gently eases out all of the snarls and tangles. "How was your day, dear?"</p><p>"The Princes of the South continue to surprise me with their resolve--and their cheerfulness!"</p><p>"Bright as stars, the pair of them," Nanurjuk says, fond already of the boys. She would miss them when they returned home. "Not many would have continued to learn healing after what the Grandmaster said, but Yugoda tells me Katara caught up admirably to his peers and continues to advance even now that he's training with Pakku as well."</p><p>"Prince Sokka has told me about the war," Yue says. "He makes light of it, but even so, it seems so horrible there. The men have been gone for years and all of their waterbenders were captured or killed. Do you think that is why we haven't had news from the South for so long?"</p><p>"Most likely, dear."</p><p>"I wish there was something we could do to help them."</p><p>"There isn't much we can do from here, I'm afraid," Nanurjuk says.</p><p>"But Anaana, hasn't so much changed already? We've just learned that boys can heal after all, and even women are learning to fight--"</p><p>"Yue," Nanurjuk warns her. "These changes are wonderful, but they still need a long time to unfold. Those boys are barely eight, remember. And even the young women who are of age will need at least six months of training before they can fight well enough to serve as warriors. Any help we might give to the South will take that much time and more because of travel."</p><p>"But isn't that the exact reason we should start <em>now?</em> The South Pole is our sister tribe."</p><p>Nanurjuk pats her daughter's hand. "I will try to think of something, dear."</p><p>So they retire to bed and awake as the moon sets.</p><p>Everything seems normal except for the snow. A wind comes from the south, over the ocean, blowing in snow that looks strange as it falls--blocking out the starlight and making dark spots on the ground. When Nanurjuk kneels to touch the flakes, they smear her palm with black, smelling of sulphur. Dread rises in her throat.</p><p>She finds Arnook and the nobles, who have received word from one of the waterbending scouts that a whole fleet of Fire Nation battleships are coming. It is winter, so they will be at an advantage, but they also hadn't expected an attack.</p><p>Nanurjuk does as the Chieftess must and sets out to collect her people into the palace for safety, as well as making sure everyone's brought as much food and water as they can carry. But she can't find Yue until she comes back around to the front steps, accompanied by Prince Sokka.</p><p>"Yue!" Nanurjuk calls. Her daughter looks up, seeming upset. Unfortunately the evacuation of the city is only halfway through, and they will have to wait for comfort. "Are you all right?"</p><p>"Yes, Mother."</p><p>"We'll speak later, dear. Tell the kitchen staff to prepare for siege rations."</p><p>"Yes, Mother." Yue picks up her skirts and makes her way through the stream of people. Most of them are too frightened to notice, but some of them do and Yue speaks to them briefly, calming them.</p><p>Nanurjuk pats Sokka's shoulder. "Thank you for escorting my daughter, Prince Sokka."</p><p>"You're welcome, Chieftess. Is there anything I can do?"</p><p>"Find your brother and the Avatar and come back here. My husband will hold an address when everyone has gathered."</p><p>- - -</p><p>"The day we have feared for so long has arrived," Arnook announces. "The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe, but they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits. Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us! I ask for volunteers to undergo a dangerous mission. Be warned, many of you will not return. Come forward to receive my mark, if you accept the task."</p><p>Sokka stands. "I will!"</p><p>Katara stands as well, but Nanurjuk shakes her head and puts a hand on his shoulder. "No, Prince Katara."</p><p>"But--"</p><p>"You are only fourteen, and even if you were of age, you must remain here as your father's only other child."</p><p>"Don't worry, Katara. I'll look out for Sokka." The Avatar stands.</p><p>Nanurjuk sighs and shakes her head again. "Not you either, Avatar Aang."</p><p>"But we always fight together--"</p><p>"You had no choice--you were traveling and being hunted," she says. "As you are especially important, you must stay in the palace where we can defend you."</p><p>"But I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people," the Avatar says. "I'm going to make a difference this time!"</p><p>"You are twelve," she says. "Stay <em>here.</em> Arnook would say the exact same thing."</p><p>Katara looks to his brother, who has already gone up to Arnook and received the mark.</p><p>"Sokka," he calls.</p><p>The two Southern princes have a brief conversation before Katara clings to his older brother, crying openly. This is mirrored over and over as the chosen volunteers return. Nanurjuk is suddenly glad she does not have a son. The grief of her people is already heavy to watch. She couldn't bear it if she had to send even one of her own children to war.</p><p>Her daughter is crying as well, but Nanurjuk resigns herself to waiting a little longer. There is still no time.</p><p>- - -</p><p>Zuko had thought the her banishment was the worst thing that could happen to her, but as always, the universe find a way to spring even more unpleasant surprises. Admiral Zhao has commandeered Zuko's crew, as good as taking her entire ship. Spewing some nonsense about not getting in his way of finding the Avatar again, Zuko nearly throws him out of her cabin before the Admiral catches sight of the broadswords above her bed.</p><p>He takes them down without asking for permission, observing them thoughtfully. She bristles. Perhaps she should have put them away after she freed the Avatar.</p><p>"Broadswords, Princess Zuko? I would have thought you'd use war-fans."</p><p>"Use them?" She crosses her arms. "Those are decorative, Admiral. In the future, I would appreciate a request for permission before you manhandled my antique collection. As well as before you seize <em>my crew</em>, but it is rather too late for that."</p><p>"Yet if I'd asked you, Princess," Zhao says with mock patience, hanging the swords back up, "You would have said no."</p><p>"Upstart!" she hisses.</p><p>"Princess," Iroh warns her. "Name-calling is beneath you."</p><p>"Yes, Princess," Zhao says. "But better to ask forgiveness rather than permission, hmm?"</p><p>"You will receive forgiveness over my cold, dead body!" She points to the door. "Leave my sight at once!"</p><p>He smirks and exits the cabin.</p><p>She lays down without changing her clothes, curls up under the blankets, and waits for her uncle to leave.</p><p>Iroh clears his throat after a long pause. "The men wanted me to wish you safe travels."</p><p>"Good riddance to those traitors."</p><p>"Come walk with me, my dear," Iroh says. Her eyes burn at the kindness in his voice. "It may clear your head. We could have dinner on shore. There is a lovely noodle shop not far from here."</p><p>She remains silent. So Iroh hails the last crew member and leaves the ship while Zuko does her best to meditate. Even though there is no one left to hear, she cannot indulge herself by giving in to petty emotions like despair if she is to make any sort of plan. She ends up crying anyway, though at least she keeps it quiet.</p><p>Afterward she falls asleep, waking up at twilight due to some sort of racket on deck. It is not out of Iroh's meddling tendencies to try and rouse her in the most annoying manner possible, so Zuko gets up with a sigh and stomps out of her cabin.</p><p>"Uncle!" she shouts. "Stop that at once! I am trying to sleep!"</p><p>Someone who is most definitely not her uncle swears. "She heard us! What do we--"</p><p>"Who goes there?" She creates a flame in her palm and darts to the source of the noise. A group of men are hoisting up a lifeboat with a barrel of something.</p><p>"Stop! Stop, please! This is blasting jelly!"</p><p>She narrows her eyes at them. "And who paid you to put this on my ship?" They remain silent. She tears a strip of cloth off the hem of her blouse and sets it on fire, then dangles it over their heads. "Tell me who paid you, and I let you leave with your lives!"</p><p>"Zhao! Admiral Zhao!"</p><p>A blast comes from the opposite end of the ship. Zuko briefly entertains the thought of dropping the sash anyway before the ground rocks under her feet. She throws the flaming silk aside, runs into her cabin, and grabs a brown skirt to hide her trousers. Then she ties her mother's mask into her skirt and sheaths her broadswords on her back before heading to a lifeboat.</p><p>There are none awaiting her--having all been cut loose without her hearing.</p><p>She runs to the lowest point of the deck, throws off all of her armor and her swords, and dives into the water. The shock of cold takes her breath away. She swims into patches of blasting jelly still floating and burning in the water and resigns herself to the chemical burns that will result. But she powers through it until the other barrels explode as well. Shrapnel peppers her with cuts and bruises. A distant part of her mind wonders why Zhao chose the most ludicrous and dramatic form of assassination before she climbs onto the pier.</p><p>With her skirt covering most of her trousers and her blouse black instead of red, she doesn't look recognizably Fire Nation except for her eyes and scar. So she messes up the rest of her hair to cover them and does her best to clean the blasting jelly off her clothes. She has blisters from the flames that made it through the fabric, but any chemical burns will take several hours to develop. The noodle shop is close by, Uncle had told her. But she has no idea if he reached it before the blast occurred, and he's not in sight. She decides remaining anonymous would be better and runs to the port office instead.</p><p>"Help!" she shouts, throwing open the door. "Fire!"</p><p>"What's happened, Miss?" the dockmaster asks.</p><p>"That ship exploded!" Zuko cries, pointing to her own ship. She doesn't realize she's shivering until her hand shakes and she stammers, "I-it knocked me into the water."</p><p>The dockmaster goes outside and strikes a large bell to raise the fire alarm. The scribe at the desk brings out a blanket and pours a cup of tea from a pot sitting on a warmer with a tiny candle burning under it. Zuko draws near and holds her hands over it, trying not to raise the flame too much. It twitches, but as a crowd starts to gather outside no one pays it much mind.</p><p>When Iroh arrives at the office, distraught, asking for her, she keeps her head down and waits until he leaves the desk. Then she gives the blanket and the empty teacup back and walks out.</p><p>"Sir," Zuko says. "Was that your ship?"</p><p>He looks up at once. But at her warning look, he says, "Yes, it was. I'm terribly sorry you were caught up in it, dear." He hands her a cloth and she wipes her bleeding face.</p><p>"I hope no one was on board."</p><p>"Unfortunately, there was," Iroh says. He holds his arm out and she takes it. "Come, I will buy you a hot dinner as it was my ship that injured you so."</p><p>She has a bowl of soup after all. Iroh asks one of the crew members to stay off of Zhao's ship in exchange for his armor and silence.</p><p>The next morning Zuko puts her hair into a man's topknot and wears the helmet at all times to hide her scar.</p><p>It's laughably easy to stay beneath Zhao's notice, even when she steals time to speak to her uncle. Unfortunately, her disguise works too well and the other crew members keep trying to either relieve her of an imaginary watch or switch off. No one seems to notice that she never speaks, or that she never actually sleeps on her cot in the soldier's quarters. Iroh aids her by asking for a game of Pai Sho and letting her nap in his cabin, but it is not nearly enough.</p><p>On one of the times that she can't avoid guarding the deck, she spies an entire fleet of Fire Nation ships following them. She taps her partner on the shoulder and points to the ships.</p><p>"That's the rest of the fleet. We're going to the North Pole for an attack."</p><p>That's strange. Winter isn't even halfway done yet. She was told it was suicide to launch an attack on the Water Tribes in winter, seeing as the sun would not rise for an entire season. She points to the sun, likely setting for the last time. The light has been cold and dim all day, even with a lack of clouds. Perhaps that has affected everyone's moods, why they have been so apathetic to her silence. Not that she's complaining.</p><p>"Yeah, I thought it was weird too... but I guess the Admiral has a plan for it."</p><p>She thinks of what caused her to speak out in the war room when she was thirteen, of the generals planning for other people's sons to die as a diversion and not caring in the slightest. She cannot speak out now, she has even less power than she did back then. But she doesn't have to like it. She crosses her arms and patrols to the other side of the ship.</p><p>When there's a shift change, a few minutes are available when everyone's guard is lowered enough that she can finally shed her armor and slip off to a lifeboat. There is no time to find her uncle, but when a step from behind makes her pause and raise her fists, she lowers them at once with a sigh of relief.</p><p>"If you want to catch an octopus, niece, you need a tightly woven net, or he will squeeze through the tiniest hole and escape."</p><p>Does he think she's an idiot? "I don't need your wisdom right now."</p><p>"I'm sorry. But I only worry about you because... well--ever since I lost my son..."</p><p>Now Zuko feels terrible. "You don't have to say it, Uncle."</p><p>"Did you know, I had always wanted a daughter as well?"</p><p>"I know." She bows to him, fighting tears. "We'll meet again." Iroh catches her in a hug before she can protest.</p><p>"Remember your breath of fire."</p><p>"I will."</p><p>"And put your hood up, dear!"</p><p>"I'll be fine!"</p><p>So Zuko leaves her uncle with the man who tried to kill her. She knows that Iroh is less out of shape than he appears to be, but she worries about him as well. He is the only family member who has not died, disappeared, or hurt her. And he is old as well as alone.</p><p>She rows her way to the great wall before the city proper. It's flat, high, and entirely blank. Crawling with guards, all waterbenders most likely--or they're the ones in charge of entries and exits. She won't find any convenient openings there, so she crouches behind one of the rocks to think. She could circle around it in her boat, but staying far enough from the wall to remain unnoticed means that route will take hours. She might be seen and apprehended by the battleships as well. Then she spots some turtle seals diving into a small hole under the ice.</p><p>She has no better idea, so she takes the deepest breath she can and dives after them.</p><p>The water by the docks was cold, but this is another level entirely. Swimming through the icy tunnel numbs her skin and her open eyes with a vengeance. As the turtle seals climb out of the other end, she scrambles onto the rocks, shivering and drenched. She breathes flame between her hands to warm them, and warms her numbed feet as well. This draws the attention of the turtle seals, who drag themselves over with curious barks.</p><p>"Quiet!" she snaps. She gets up and cautiously peers out, heartened to notice that she is nearly at the base of the wall.</p><p>Her dismissal of convenient openings was wrong; there is a tunnel with water pouring out. It goes in the direction of the city. Now that her initial shock has faded, she sticks her hand into the stream and only finds herself affected by the water pressure. If she runs out of air, she can simply let the current push her back out. So she climbs and climbs and climbs until she reaches an open reservoir. There she treads water until she's caught her breath.</p><p>And so on until she reaches the castle.</p><p>She lingers just outside the walls and out of sight of the guards, waiting for a sign of the Avatar, but he is not with the leaders and she cannot see his enormous bison in the sky fighting the navy.</p><p>It turns out that the Princess of the North has taken the Avatar to a place where he can meditate. Zuko fumes.</p><p>She looks for a temple of some sort. In the rear courtyard she finds a small, circular wooden door. Behind it she can feel warmth, the most she's felt since the sun last set several days ago. Zuko presses her hand against it gleefully, then remembers she must be silent. She opens the door a crack to find that the Avatar is indeed meditating by a patch of grass (how strange) with the waterbender boy standing by, and a slim young woman who must be the princess.</p><p>"Is he okay?" the princess asks.</p><p>She has white hair despite her youth and looks about Zuko's age. Stifling a pang of jealousy at the princess' unmarred and beautiful features, Zuko focuses on the waterbender instead. She cannot trust the wooden bridge not to creak, but the lake is deceptively deep. There is a waterfall as well, which covers up the sound of her carefully slipping into the water and crouching, circling around to behind the wooden gate. To her gratitude, the water is also warm.</p><p>"He's crossed into the Spirit World," the boy says. "He'll be fine as long as we don't move his body. That's his link to the physical world."</p><p>"Maybe we should find a guard."</p><p>"I'm perfectly capable of protecting him, Princess."</p><p>She rises from the water then. "How gallant of you."</p><p>Zuko kicks a tongue of fire at the waterbender, who blocks it as the other princess flees.</p><p>The hours Zuko had spent in the freezing water and walking through the snow is her first disadvantage. Her flames don't cover nearly as much ground, forcing her to get closer to the waterbender than she would like. And his form is much better even accounting for the aid that a constant night gives waterbending--focused and clear. When he freezes her into a sphere of ice, she recognizes it as a move much too specific and advanced for him to have taught himself.</p><p>"You little peasant," she says, half-admiring. "You've found a master, haven't you? But no matter!"</p><p>She digs her way through the ice with clawing motions and scatters bursts of flame all over to distract her opponent. Just as she grabs the Avatar's collar, a burst of water knocks her off her feet and into the pond. She coughs and sputters as a wave surges beneath her, and then she finds herself frozen to the wall, entirely immobile.</p><p>She can feel a shift as the moon sets again, but the sun still does not rise. It stays just out of reach, just beyond the veil of night.</p><p>Curse the winters of the poles!</p><p>The waterbender waits as Zuko struggles, breathing smoke but unable to melt even an inch of the ice. Satisfied, he turns his back and returns to the Avatar, clearly deciding the fight is over. The gall! If only Zuko could melt the ice, it would be a simple thing to take advantage of his lowered guard! How cruel the gods are, to leave her way home sitting quietly while she cannot reach him!</p><p>With her energy nearly exhausted and no sun to bolster her strength, Zuko's mind flickers through all the avenues of possibility. Where her body fails, her mind must compensate. Bending is powered by emotion, fire especially by willpower. When she was a child and had a difficult training session, every time she thought she would never be a master of fire like Azula surely would, every time her inner fire was dampened by despair--what was it her mother said? She can hear Ursa's tone, calm and soothing, but the words are indistinct.</p><p>Is she forgetting her mother? No! That cannot be. She must do <em>something!</em> If Zuko cannot remember what her mother said that always made her get back up, then she will fall back on anger, even if her uncle decries it as low-hanging fruit.</p><p>"Come back, peasant!" she orders. "Turn around and face me!"</p><p>He does not. "You're stuck there until the sun rises, Princess Zuko. Or until we decide what to do with you, which will probably take less time."</p><p>"No one--" her breath sparks-- "<em>No one</em> decides what to do with me besides <em>me!</em>"</p><p>Blood runs out of Zuko's nose and mouth as her skin heats enough for her to melt part of the ice, and she kicks the rest of the way free. The ice is sharp enough to cut but she welcomes the pain as more fuel. Sloshing through the mud, she fires one last blast at Katara's turned back, hurling him into a tree and knocking him unconscious.</p><p>"I don't need the sun to best you," she hisses.</p><p>She wipes the blood off her face, binds the Avatar, and hauls him over her shoulder.</p><p>The boy is light, but with the storm and her exhaustion and how the remaining blood keeps trickling down her face and freezing, she carries him around the palace and through the city at a slower pace than she would prefer. The wind is so strong that it's an invisible wall of cold, making every breath feel like a knife from the inside. Zuko has barely gotten the Avatar out of the city before she stumbles to her knees and realizes she must rest at once.</p><p>She casts her gaze around for some sort of shelter until she spots a cave and climbs into it gratefully.</p><p>Sitting there with the unconscious Avatar, Zuko tries to plan what she'll do next. But now that she's stopped moving, she's hit with a wave of drowsiness. There lies danger.</p><p>"Don't fall asleep," she orders herself. She grips her own hand so hard that her blunted nails dig into her palm and the bite of pain is enough to keep her awake.</p><p>"Zuko," comes Ursa's voice. Too late. "You don't have to try to be Azula. Be yourself and that's enough."</p><p>"But it's <em>not,</em>" she says. She feels a tear slip out of her good eye and wipes it off before it can freeze, like the blood on her mouth and chin. Being herself isn't enough when Father hates her.</p><p>She sits down and draws her knees up, trying to warm herself. But the long walk through the blizzard sapped what remained of her physical strength and she has not slept for so long she's nearly dizzy. She truly has no energy left to draw on. If she tries even a small flame again before she's rested, she may die. Yet she cannot rest here. It is simply too cold.</p><p>"Build a shelter of snow to conserve warmth," her uncle had told her. "If you are lost on the tundra or there is a storm, it may save your life."</p><p>Yes. She can seal the cave entrance. It wouldn't take long to pack snow into a wall.</p><p>She tries to get up. Pulls herself up hand over hand along the icy wall of the cave, starts packing snow into a wall as best she can before she falls down. Zuko hadn't tripped or stumbled. The wind had not increased. She's simply too tired to stand any longer. The howling wind blows through the cave, sounding like a dirge. Her shivers are uncontrollable, so deep that they frighten her.</p><p>"No."</p><p>Zuko takes as deep a breath as she can, trying to will herself standing--but she's suddenly aware of the pain everywhere in her body and how long she's been awake. Two days. Or perhaps three.</p><p>She can't tell because it has been one long night since she entered the North Pole. She fights the unconsciousness threatening to smother her, and then feels what she couldn't possibly feel--a wave of heat, sweltering heat as if she's standing in the Fire Nation sun. It is not a gift, it is too much, too sudden, it makes her feel like she's burning alive. The animal instinct in her wants to tear her clothes off for some sort of relief, but she knows she will die if she does that.</p><p>Before she can do anything, the heat gives rise to Zuko's most terrible memory and the phantom smell of her own burning flesh and hair fills the cave. Her screams echo off the stone walls as Zuko sees her father standing over her, a flame in the form of a man against the dark walls of the Agni Kai arena. She curls up into herself as she had when she was thirteen, begging her father to stop as he pinned her to the ground by the shoulder and his other hand smoldered on her eye, begging for her absent mother, and finally screaming to Agni for mercy.</p><p>That was when Ozai said, "Agni will not show you mercy, daughter." And he finally let her go. "<em>I</em> will show you mercy."</p><p>When she at last returns to her senses, she's devastated to find the beginnings of her wall have been ruined by her panicked thrashing. She is colder than ever and now covered in a layer of snow. And she is too exhausted to shiver. She has never been this cold in her life.</p><p>"No, no! Get up, Zuko!"</p><p>She will not die like this, alone and disgraced and far from home! She will not!</p><p>But no matter how much she rages internally she can't lift a finger except to hold herself tight and cry. And as despair always does, it opens the gates to all of her other fears. Her mother is dead. No matter how much Iroh encourages her to believe otherwise, to keep an eye out for news of Princess Ursa as well as the Avatar, Zuko cannot rid it from her mind. She knows not where her uncle is--still with Zhao at the head of the fleet, or in the North Pole? Would Zhao dare try and kill Iroh, too? And she is here, trapped in this accursed blizzard in a sunless land because of her father!</p><p>There is no one who can help Zuko now save one. Even though the sky has been dark for days, she turns her face up to the sky, to the pinprick of warmth behind the clouds.</p><p>"Agni, Agni," she coughs blood onto the snow and wonders if it counts as an offering. "Please, I know I am to die, but not here! Mercy, Agni, mercy on your daughter--"</p><p>"What--"</p><p>Zuko turns to see the Avatar in the back of the cave, awake and confused.</p><p>"Where am I--?"</p><p>Zuko gets up at once, shaking the snow off her clothes and surprising the Avatar. He cries out; a gust of wind blows them both out of the cave. She scrambles to her feet again and grabs him by the collar as he tries to wriggle away without use of his arms or legs. A roar announces the sky-bison and the waterbender jumps down from the saddle. He seems rested and recovered from the fight.</p><p>Well, there's no use for jealousy now. Zuko drops the Avatar, taking a deep breath and falling into a stance. She spits a mouthful of blood to the side, ignoring the pain in her chest, only relieved that she somehow has the energy to move again.</p><p>"Here for a rematch?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Zuko was out of Iroh's supervision for maybe a few hours and almost died like six times. That wasn't a good idea even with normal day and night cycles, and it's certainly not a good idea now that I'm following actual scientific rules about winters at the poles.</p><p>Just assume that Yukka happens off-screen more or less exactly as it did in the show. I, like Zuko, am Too Tired.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Mercy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello beautiful people! You get this chapter a little early just 'cause I like you!</p><p>Content warnings:<br/>Yue still dies. :( I didn't like it either.</p><p>Katara heals Zuko of some fatal injuries. They're internal. Thanks to waterbending, there's no surgery and so the healing itself isn't described in too much detail--mostly there are a lot of mentions of Zuko coughing blood or having frostbite. Nothing that would be out of place in a Victorian novel.</p><p>At one point, Zuko is so close to dying that Yugoda starts to give Katara a talk about death. DON'T WORRY. I've written like 75% of Zuko's Book 2 scenes and a little of Book 3. THIS IS A ZUTARA FIC.</p><p>There's discussion of morality in times of war, and that applies to further chapters too. Think of Aang consulting his past lives about killing Ozai, except way earlier and it's Katara vs the rest of the Water Tribes.</p><p>Yugoda gets a POV scene! But the whole thing is her feeling VERY conflicted about healing Zuko vs leaving her to die. And, well, she leans to the second more at the beginning.</p><p>I think that's all for content warnings.</p><p>Go wild, folks! The next chapter will be the last for Book One!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Katara jumps out of Appa's saddle, Zuko takes a stance and spits blood into the snow. "Here for a rematch?"</p><p>Her words are bold, but Katara can see she's already exhausted. It won't be much of a fight. He'd actually rather call a truce, but before he can do anything she kicks out. On instinct, Katara raises a column of ice to knock the wind out of her--just long enough to get Aang back, and he's already crossed an admirable distance despite being bound. The princess shifts direction to melt his column with a punch.</p><p>It's only after he's already slammed her to the ground that Katara registers it: She was too exhausted to bend. Both times, she'd failed to produce any sort of fire. When she slumps over face down in the snow and doesn't rise, Yue gasps.</p><p>
  <em>We are not executioners or assassins, Katara. We are warriors, and that means we fight only people who can fight back. If a warrior is on the ground, alive or dead, the fight is done. If a warrior begs for mercy or runs away in fear, the fight is done. If a warrior is asleep or ill or injured then there is no fight at all. I'm telling you this now, son, because the gods seem to be watching you closely. You must remember that they are the ones in charge of our lives and our deaths.</em>
</p><p>Sokka's eyes are wide. "Katara."</p><p>"That was a woman," Yue says. She's covered her mouth with her hands out of shock.</p><p>"I know." He walks over to the pale figure on the ground. "She's Fire Nation. They let women fight."</p><p>"But," Sokka says. "You saw how she couldn't--"</p><p>"I <em>know.</em>"</p><p>A brief touch to the shoulder and a hesitant shake gets absolutely no response. She's not just dazed. She's unconscious.</p><p>Sokka heads over to cut Aang free as Katara turns Zuko onto her back and examines her.</p><p>Her clothes are too thin and they've actually frozen. She must have gone out straight after the fight without drying her clothes. Scanning her bloodied face only makes his foreboding grow worse. She has other injuries that are more than a few hours old, wounds he knows he didn't give her. There are burns from blasting jelly, vivid red-purple blisters against her white skin. She's been bleeding from the mouth and nose and various other cuts, but they haven't scabbed over, they're frozen too. Her lips are tinged blue and she's not even shivering anymore--a sign that she's nearly dead from cold.</p><p>How was Zuko able to stand just now? Even if she knew he wouldn't kill her, and this wasn't a killing move on its own, it could have aggravated something else and resulted in death anyway. Was she that desperate, or delirious from cold, or both?</p><p>"Is..." Aang has already lept up to Appa's saddle and he looks scared as he asks, "Is she okay?"</p><p>"Drop me off by the healer's house." Katara picks Zuko up and shifts the snow into a ramp so he can carry her onto Appa without jostling any injuries.</p><p>"Aang, Princess Yue, I'm taking you back to the Spirit Oasis."</p><p>To Katara's relief, no one gives him a second glance when he runs in with a snow-covered, unresponsive figure in his arms. He settles her into an empty cot in the corner and starts to check Zuko over, but then someone screams.</p><p>Are they under attack? Everything <em>would</em> happen at once--</p><p>"Yugoda!" Katara looks around to see Ayana panicking. "Yugoda, I can't bend!"</p><p>He dips his hand into a bowl of water, but as he feels it drip back down without answering his call, he realizes with a sick feeling that he can't either.</p><p>"What happened?"</p><p>"She can't bend!"</p><p>"Quiet," the Midwife says as panic starts to spread.</p><p>"I lost mine too--"</p><p>"What do we do now--"</p><p>"<em>Quiet!</em>" Yugoda shouts. A petrified silence falls over the room. "No one can bend at all?" Everybody shakes their head, Katara included. Yugoda raises her hand to the nearest bowl of water. When nothing happens, she stares at it for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Well, that's what regular medicine is for! Calm down, then get back to work! All that's changed is that it will take longer to heal!"</p><p>Some of the girls pause to collect themselves, to gather supplies. In that brief, horrifying moment Katara thinks that the gods have punished him for breaking one of the oldest laws of their people by taking away not only his bending, but everyone else's--as unfair as that is. Then a man enters the tent.</p><p>"Midwife." It's Pakku. "A word."</p><p>She walks over at once.</p><p>Without the glow of his bending, Katara has to light another lamp to examine Zuko, but he doesn't get far. Aside from broken ribs, the cuts and bruises he can see, and her frostbite, he can't tell what her other injuries are. The blood from her mouth and nose is worrying. She's unconscious so he can't ask how she feels. He'll just have to assume the worst, that she has a bad concussion and punctured lungs. Her side is starting to swell and feels tight when he gingerly touches it, so she might have internal bleeding too.</p><p>His hands come away wet and he almost panics, thinking it's yet more blood--but it's just her clothes thawing out. That's another problem. Without his bending, the only way to get Zuko into dry clothes is to take them off himself, but he's not going to do that. There is a small lamp in the center of the hut to keep the healing tent warm, so he drags the cot closer and hopes the warmth will be enough. The wet might cause infection for all of her burns and open wounds, but that will take hours and he hopes she'll be conscious enough to change clothes herself.</p><p>He might have a chance on the swelling in her side if he asks Yugoda to help him operate, but the concussion is one thing that he absolutely does need his bending for. Otherwise he'll just have to wait.</p><p>Yugoda enters the tent again, completely calm. "Everyone, try bending again."</p><p>They all put their hands into the nearest water bowls and to their collective relief, their hands all glow.</p><p>"Yugoda!" Katara calls. "Help me."</p><p>The Midwife starts examining Zuko as usual, but when she opens one of the princess's eyes to reveal the golden iris, she halts.</p><p>"This is a Fire Nation woman of high birth," Yugoda says. "Only the nobility and royalty have golden eyes. I heard that they allow women to become warriors." She turns away. "Let her be healed by her own people, Katara."</p><p>"But--" Katara looks down at the unconscious princess. "It will take hours to get her to a Fire Nation ship. They'd attack me on sight. And--and I struck when she couldn't defend herself. I thought... I'd take responsibility for it."</p><p>"Has your father told you this?" The Midwife puts a hand on the princess' chest. While her hands glow, her face is unreadable as she says, "A man strikes a woman from an enemy family. As penance for breaking such a great law, he takes her to be healed by his own people, and this display of highest honor ends the war between their clans."</p><p>Katara nods. "Once, I think."</p><p>Instead of healing Zuko, Yugoda takes her hand away. "Those two were both of the Water Tribe," the Midwife says, and with a sinking feeling Katara sees her eyes grow passionless and icy, a far cry from the warm, grandmotherly teacher he'd grown attached to. "I daresay Chief Arnook will not find it an offense if this woman has died by your hand. Not if she is Fire Nation and a warrior besides. I'll tell you what Pakku told me: The Moon Spirit was attacked, and in order to save it, Princess Yue gave up her own life."</p><p>"But--" That can't be right. "I just saw Princess Yue--" His stomach churns.</p><p>"I will tell you what Chief Arnook will do if this lady dies now, Katara." Katara shakes his head, unwilling to hear it, but Yugoda goes on, "He will say that in return for the death of our beloved princess, you fought and killed a high ranking Fire Nation warrior in return. He will pardon you for killing a woman, as she was an enemy and they allow women into their ranks. You will be a war hero. Arnook may even take you as his heir, since he has lost his, and your father has another son." Yugoda observes Zuko with an impassive face. "She is not very far from death. All this will be yours if you simply wait an hour or two."</p><p>He finally finds his voice and yells, "Yugoda, please--!"</p><p>"Your bending has been restored. I leave her fate in your hands."</p><p>The Midwife gets up and leaves.</p><p>He can't heal Zuko on his own. Just one fatal injury would be testing Katara's limits and Zuko has <em>four</em> that he knows of, and there might very well be others lurking. He looks around at the healers and the other apprentices. While some of them send bitter glares at the Fire Nation princess, others look as shaken as he does, and a few even look sympathetic--but no matter what their opinion seems to be, they all quickly go back to their own patients.</p><p>Katara knows without a doubt that he wouldn't have struck Zuko if he'd known how exhausted and hurt she really was. Yugoda's speech just makes him feel worse. He can't wait an hour or two for someone to die if he can do anything to help it. He can't, not even if it's Princess Zuko who's chased them all the way from one end of the world to the other and not even if Princess Yue just died. It sounds too much like revenge, the exact thing Hakoda told him would only pile death onto death. Katara told <em>Jet</em> that revenge wasn't the right way.</p><p>And while this isn't revenge for him, it would be for Arnook, who he thinks should know better, and they would still be upholding a gigantic lie for his own personal glory and there is nothing honorable in that when someone will be dead because of it--man or woman, Water Tribe or not, it's wrong.</p><p>So Katara decides the only way to amend his honor will be to try and save Zuko's life, even if he won't succeed. So he takes a deep breath and starts to list her injuries in order of importance and what he can actually do. He bends her clothes dry, letting the water splash onto the floor. The warmth in the tent should be enough to take care of her chill without any help. He dips his hands into the bowl of water, examining the princess' head. When he's healed Zuko's concussion, he takes a deep breath and starts trying to figure out where her internal bleeding is coming from. There is so much of it pooled in the wrong places that trying to find the source is like trying to catch a single fish in murky water.</p><p>The door opens again and someone finally approaches him. Katara looks up to demand they help him, only to see Yugoda with another bowl of water in her hands.</p><p>"You--" he shouts, "You were <em>testing</em> me!"</p><p>"You really are a wonder," Yugoda says. "The first male healer in centuries is a Prince of the South, and his honor is unquestionable."</p><p>Katara is so relieved he could cry. "I should have known you wouldn't leave someone to die."</p><p>Yugoda is silent for a moment too long. "I'll examine her." She gloves her hand in water and assists him in searching for the source of the bleeding. "Hmm." She rests her hand over the scar, not quite touching it. "Something blocks her chi here. It's old, nearly four years."</p><p>"Does that mean a spirit did it?"</p><p>"No, only that it causes spiritual pain as well as physical. But never mind, it's not fatal." She scans for the bleeding. "Here. Her liver. Draw the blood back through the wound before you heal it--it might still have impurities." Princess Zuko starts coughing blood without regaining consciousness and Yugoda holds her down by the shoulders. "Her lungs are punctured."</p><p>"Did I do that?"</p><p>"Focus on her liver."</p><p>The process of trying to move pooled blood without stopping Zuko's heart takes all of Katara's concentration. After he's done, he knits her liver back together and begins to help Yugoda heal the broken ribs when the midwife exclaims, "If it's not one thing!" She puts a hand over Zuko's mouth and the other on her chest. "Stop a moment. She has frostbite."</p><p>"I thought we healed that last."</p><p>"This is on the inside of her lungs. At some point she fell under the ice and breathed in freezing water. Normally it would sort itself out, but she was walking in the cold for too long afterward and never got warm enough for it to melt. It tore holes in her lungs, very small ones as she kept breathing in cold air." She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes in concentration. "I'll do one lung, you do the other. Melt the ice, draw all the liquid out of her lungs, then heal just one of the tears."</p><p>Katara puts a hand on her collarbone next to Yugoda's and feels the tiny ice crystals lingering in the thin tissue of Zuko's lungs and the small rips that make it hard for her to breathe, like holes in a sail. He can't do such a delicate process as smoothly as Yugoda, and he cringes when Zuko's eyes finally open. She gives great hacking coughs and groans in pain, saying something through the gurgle of blood and water that Katara can't catch.</p><p>"Oh, gods and spirits!" Yugoda's voice shakes. "She wants her mother." Katara looks up to see tears running down the Midwife's face. Zuko starts struggling too hard for them to work.</p><p>"I could freeze her in place--"</p><p>"Too cold," Yugoda reminds him. "Someone hold her down!" No one comes over. The silence is broken only by Zuko's rasping, half-spoken and half-coughing pleas for her mother. Yugoda takes a deep breath, looks around the room at the apprentices and healers who aren't quite making eye contact, then pulls her bloody hands away. "Katara."</p><p>"What's wrong? Why did you stop?"</p><p>"Katara, look at me." He's suddenly afraid to look his teacher in the eye, but she puts a hand on Katara's shoulder. He realizes he forgot to put on an apron and his clothes are all stained. "Try to sense her chi."</p><p>He holds a hand over her collarbone again and only feels the barest flicker of energy. "It's low. I've never seen anyone this tired." Her heartbeat is erratic and weak. "Her heart--what's wrong with it?"</p><p>"It's failing."</p><p>"But we're almost done--she's not old and she's a strong fighter--"</p><p>"If someone has gone too far past their limits, even if they have no injuries or they've been healed, they might die anyway. It takes energy to keep living, and sometimes they can't recover it fast enough. Even if they're healthy and young."</p><p>"What do we do?"</p><p>"Nothing."</p><p>"What do you mean, nothing? Waterbenders deal with the transfer of energy." Katara rinses his hands of Zuko's blood and takes another bowl of water. "I'll--"</p><p>"Don't." Yugoda grabs his wrist and he pulls away. "I'm serious, Katara. This isn't another test. When they forget where they are, especially if they start calling for their mothers, they have already surrendered to death."</p><p>"Can I try giving a little--"</p><p>"She needs more energy than you can give, Katara. You need to help other people." The words 'our people' are not said, but they might as well be. "It's not your fault if she dies now. You have gone well above and beyond what anyone could have asked of you, and if anything that is my fault. No matter what happens, I am very proud of you."</p><p>No one's ever died in front of Katara. He's only ever seen the aftermath of death, usually elders who go to sleep and when he comes back in the morning their bed is empty or taken by someone else. He tries not to think about it too hard, but it reminds him of Gran-Gran, how he only stopped having nightmares when he got her first response.</p><p>Katara turns away and cries. He can't help it. Even if Zuko is an enemy, he's tried so hard to save her and after healing so many injuries, the thing that kills a trained, firebending warrior princess is <em>cold</em>. Average, everyday cold that usually only affects elders or babies, and Zuko has fire in her blood which should have made her less susceptible to it.</p><p>"It's all right, dear," Yugoda tells him. "You did your best."</p><p>"She's all alone," he finds himself saying. He doesn't know where her uncle or her crew is. Are they looking for her? Or did they die in the fighting? Did they kill any Water Tribe soldiers? Will people be mad at him for showing sympathy to someone from the Fire Nation?</p><p>Yugoda looks at the pale girl, unconscious, still struggling to breathe. Katara still isn't sure how she feels personally about Zuko. But when the Midwife softens the tiniest bit, he relaxes. "You can stay with her a little longer."</p><p>There's a commotion at the front door. "Midwife!" comes Pakku's voice.</p><p>"Why is Pakku still here?" Yugoda asks, the closest to losing her temper that he's ever seen.</p><p>"Zuko!" As if summoned by the gods, Zuko's uncle sweeps into the healing hut with a burst of moonlight. "Please, I mean no harm, I was only searching for my niece. The Avatar will vouch for me--"</p><p>"Fine," Yugoda says. "Calm her down."</p><p>Iroh kneels by her side and takes her hand. Katara can feel the elder's chi like a lantern, a large and stable warmth. The single ember left in Zuko answers to it, glowing the slightest touch brighter. Almost as if it's feeding off her uncle's energy. He didn't know firebenders could do that too. "Zuko, Zuko. I am here now."</p><p>She coughs and moans, but seems to regain a little consciousness. Her good eye finally focuses on her surroundings. "Uncle?" she rasps, clutching his hand. Katara stares. When he looks up, Yugoda is staring too. "Where am I?"</p><p>"Later, my dear. Save your strength."</p><p>Katara checks her chi again, trying not to be obvious, but there's no denying it. Zuko was dying only a few seconds before her uncle came in, and now--she's not. She's still not <em>well</em>, not in the least, but even Yugoda realizes that the chances of saving her have gone from 'absolutely none' to 'slim.'</p><p>"Her lungs, Katara," the Midwife reminds him.</p><p>So he goes to work finding the rest of the tiny holes in her lungs, defrosting patches of frozen tissue and drawing out liquid as he goes. When the last of the ice has been melted and all liquid has been drawn out of her lungs, Zuko's passed out again. Or maybe, he notes, watching her breathe shallow but steady, she's just asleep. When Katara checks her heartbeat, it's still weak but steadier than before. He heals the chemical burns and the surface cuts, then turns her over to Yugoda, who examines her one last time and sighs in relief.</p><p>"All that's left is the cold." Zuko's skin is still bloodless and waxy, but the blue tinge has finally left her lips and nothing is frozen. "I'll check back in a few hours."</p><p>"I will never be able to repay you," Iroh says. He cries silently, but freely. "I know that your princess has died. I would have understood if you had let my niece die in return."</p><p>That's not how we do things here, he wants to say. Before he can think of something else, Yugoda puts a startlingly clean hand on his shoulder. "Scrub off and rest, Katara."</p><p>"I thought you needed--"</p><p>"The moon's risen," she tells him.</p><p>"But it just set before I--attacked Zuko..."</p><p>All of the things that happened catch up to Katara at once. His own time spent unconscious, the search for Aang through the blizzard, the fight which shouldn't have happened, the loss and restoration of everyone's bending and then the long, horrible process of healing someone who was about to die--</p><p>He wavers.</p><p>"We take wartime healing in shifts, four hours work and four hours rest until the load is small enough to manage normally," Yugoda explains to him. "North corner's first, they've already gone. I'm letting you off a little early and you can sleep for two shifts, because that's how long you spent on one patient who was beyond your skill level. When you come back, do only basic healing on other patients. You can check up on her, but nothing more strenuous than surface cuts or burns or torn muscles. No broken bones, the fine control you'll need for it is more draining. Now, Prince Katara, I'm ordering you as your teacher to go to bed."</p><p>"Okay." He mindlessly washes his hands up to the elbows and heads out of the door to find Pakku, still standing there.</p><p>"Come with me, Prince Katara," the Grandmaster says, thumping his shoulder. After a moment, he bends the blood off Katara's clothes, then steers him to the palace. "I'm amazed at how well you learn under pressure. Two advanced techniques in a siege and you didn't even panic."</p><p>"Thank you, Master."</p><p>He tries to ask why Pakku was standing by the door all that time since Yugoda hadn't known either, but a huge yawn threatens to crack his jaw and he stumbles into his rooms without another word. Aang and Sokka are already asleep. Katara can smell saltwater somewhere in the room, but he doesn't have nearly enough energy to wonder why. He only manages to shed his parka and boots before he falls into bed and passes out.</p><p>- - -</p><p>When Pakku himself comes in the middle of the siege to tell her something, Yugoda fears the worst. She fears that everyone has lost their bending and the Fire Nation navy broke through the walls. That Pakku is here to aid them in fleeing the city entirely and she must choose which patients to leave to their deaths. Yet somehow his news is even worse than that.</p><p>"The Moon Spirit was attacked and killed. You felt the effects."</p><p>"Yes." She looks up to the moon and is surprised to find it full and shining as usual. "But it's been restored, hasn't it?"</p><p>"It has. At a cost."</p><p>Her heart sinks. "Who?"</p><p>"Princess Yue."</p><p>"Oh, Yue!"  She brings a hand to her mouth in shock. "Gods and spirits, Yue!"</p><p>As if only a few days had passed, Yugoda remembers when she delivered Arnook and Nanurjuk's only child. A frail, silent bundle in her arms. Every sign pointed to death, but Arnook had prayed and a miraculous gift of life from their benevolent Moon had changed everything. Princess Yue grew up to be healthy and beautiful and kind, and the people called her Princess of Hope. Yugoda especially cared for the child, a symbol of how the heaviest grief and dread could transform into precious joy. And now she was dead, sixteen years later as opposed to a day or two. Still too short a life. What sort of mercy was that?</p><p>Pakku puts a hand on Yugoda's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Yugoda. I know she was important to you."</p><p>She looks to the coast. "The Fire Nation, what about them?"</p><p>"The Avatar took care of that. The siege is over."</p><p>Well, now she'll only have that less of a wait before she can sit with her grief. "Thank you, Grandmaster," she says as farewell, going back into the tent. She ensures her voice is calm as she calls out, "Everyone, try your bending again."</p><p>When Katara calls her over, she's half in a daze and assumes the snow-covered figure is another Water Tribe warrior. But closer examination reveals that it's a young woman, which is highly unusual. While there are girls training in martial waterbending, they and the other trainees are not advanced enough to actually fight. They're sheltered in the castle with the other civilians. The girl's skin is unusually pale even considering her frostbite.</p><p>Her face is severely scarred on one side but the wound is clearly old. When Yugoda opens the unscarred eye to check how severe the concussion is, the iris is golden. Not brown or gray or blue. Yugoda is not familiar with the royalty of other nations by name, but she knows that the ideal for Fire Nation beauty is pale skin rather than brown, and golden eyes such as this are even more valued as a symbol of both beauty and high birth. She knows that they allow their women to fight in the Fire Nation, though she has never personally seen it.</p><p>At any other time, Yugoda would have continued her work. She would not have liked it, but she is a healer with a sacred duty to preserve life. The girl is unconscious, and Katara himself seemed to have brought her in, judging from the melting snow on his clothes. But this young and beautiful Fire Nation lady is about Princess Yue's age, and what mercy Yugoda may have found has been crushed by the weight of the grief lying over her heart.</p><p>She would rather it be Yue lying here on death's door, not this enemy noblewoman. She would have given all of her strength and skill into healing Yue.</p><p>"Let her be healed by her own people," Yugoda finds herself saying, a compromise of complete neutrality.</p><p>She can't do it, no matter how much Katara begs her to help him. Of course she can see that the girl's wounds are beyond Katara's knowledge to repair alone, and that every moment wasted is a moment that brings her closer to death. Of course if this was before Yue had died, or if this was a hypothetical situation, she would have said, 'But the right thing to do is to heal her anyway, so we will.'</p><p>She tells Katara a lie. She tells him that Arnook would not see it as an offense, when really she has no idea what the Chief would think and it is herself she is speaking about. She leaves the choice to Katara and exits the tent.</p><p>Pakku is still out there. "Finished so soon, Yugoda?"</p><p>"There is a Fire Nation noblewoman in there," Yugoda says. "Katara brought her in."</p><p>"What?" Pakku asks. "Why?"</p><p>Moonlight shines at their feet, cool and forgiving. Yue appears before them, shimmering and transparent as water; Pakku bows and Yugoda feels tears run down her face as the princess--the Moon Spirit--says, "Mercy."</p><p>Just that one word.</p><p>Was she answering Pakku? Asking for mercy? Reminding Yugoda of it? Ordering her?</p><p>Yue stretches out her hand as if in greeting. Yugoda feels shame overcome her even as she reaches out desperately to the girl she had tried to save so many years ago, and all she feels is moonlight before the vision fades.</p><p>The question is, can Yugoda inflict the pain she is feeling on somebody else and not have it be called <em>revenge?</em> It will pile death upon death. Everyone has been told this. And she is a healer. To let someone die without any care would be to leave the door open for her greatest enemy, death. No, she cannot do that, even if it is a Fire Nation woman. So she turns around and walks back inside, taking a bowl of water.</p><p>Katara has been healing the girl all this time. He thinks Yugoda was testing him. Yugoda wishes she were young again, when life and honor were such simple things. She doesn't have the heart to correct him.</p><p>- - -</p><p>After Zhao commits the atrocity of killing the Moon Spirit, he slips away before Iroh can seize him.</p><p>The young lady with white hair falls to her knees, saying, "There is no hope. The siege is over." Even in despair--or perhaps because of it--she has a grace and serenity which reminds Iroh of Ursa. Then he realizes that this is the Princess of the North, whose name is Yue, and while he had thought it was only a symbolic name because of her white hair or perhaps the time she was born, when he looks closer he can see threads of moonlight wound up in her soul.</p><p>"No," the Avatar says. Something has taken hold of him as well. It dwells in his voice, deep and commanding. "It's not over."</p><p>The Ocean Spirit takes hold of the Avatar and swims out of the oasis into the city, where they can see a large shadow.</p><p>Those are his people, and he does not want them to die. They are misguided; they are led by his brother into thinking they do the right thing. But it is the will of the spirits and it is beyond his reach to protest.</p><p>"You are Princess Yue," Iroh says. "I see that you have been touched by the Spirit of the Moon."</p><p>She looks at her hands. "Yes, you're right. It gave me life, maybe I can give it back."</p><p>Iroh has heard that waterbenders heal, and for a moment he thinks that is all she will do--healing the fish of its burn seems a simple thing. But the young man named Sokka cries, "No! You don't have to do that!"</p><p>"I have a duty to my people."</p><p>"I won't let you! My father told me to protect you!"</p><p>To Iroh's horror, the cause of Sokka's urgency is revealed when she says, "I should not have lived when I was born, and yet the Moon Spirit healed me. Now the Moon Spirit is dead while I live. This is a debt which must be repaid."</p><p>She removes her gloves and takes the fish gently in both hands before closing her eyes. It is not long before the koi glows, restored, and Princess Yue's body fades away into moonlight. Iroh turns his face away out of respect when reappears and speaks to Sokka. Perhaps he need not have; he cannot understand what she says, and not simply on the level of differing languages. Her words are like listening to the ocean. </p><p>When the former Princess turns to Iroh, he gives her a full bow of supplication with his forehead to the grass.</p><p>"Moon Spirit, my own gods cannot reach me in your land. Please, I beg you to help me in their place."</p><p>She nods.</p><p>"I must find my niece Princess Zuko. Can you see where she is?"</p><p>She nods again. For a moment, she closes her eyes and tilts her head, as if listening. Then she stretches her hand out.</p><p>A path of moonlight spills from her fingers, leading him out of the oasis, around the palace of ice, and through the empty city. Iroh breaks into a run when he sees the end of the path, leading into a collection of tents and one large house with people bringing patients on stretchers.</p><p>"Mercy on me, gods and spirits," he prays, fearing the worst. "I know we all must die, but not alone! She is too young! I beg you, let me find her in time!"</p><p>Zuko was already in much pain when she left him, and she would have fought anyway--with sun or without, rested or not. Young people are terrible at remaining within their limits to begin with, and yet he also suspects she is on the edge of despair. How often she overextends herself for the sake of proving her worth to Ozai, who has already disowned her. But as she has not come to accept that for herself, no amount of persuasion will move her.</p><p>The path leads to the main building where an old man is posted at the door, guarding it.</p><p>"Excuse me," Iroh says.</p><p>"Midwife!" the man shouts.</p><p>"Please!"</p><p>Hearing the urgency, the man stands aside. Iroh follows Zuko's voice, hoarse and labored, followed by wet coughs. She calls for her mother. And since Zuko is at an age where she is too proud to admit that she misses Princess Ursa, she must be far gone indeed.</p><p>Attending her are two healers, an elderly woman about Iroh's age and someone younger. He is utterly shocked to see the other young man who accompanied the Avatar, Katara. But Zuko gasps for air as if drowning, and Iroh remembers his goal and sprints to her side. Her hand is deathly cold and there's blood everywhere.</p><p>How did it come to pass that an enemy has brought Zuko to be healed by his people? And not only a general enemy of their nation, but one who they had specifically hunted from one end of the world to another.</p><p>Iroh cannot venture this question, so he calms his niece as the healers work on her. Because her skin is so terribly cold, he allows a touch of warmth to flow through his palm and into Zuko's arm. Warming someone who has nearly frozen to death must be a slow process, or there may be even more pain than usual, but he is patient. He must be.</p><p>It takes a very long time for both healers to repair the internal injuries, and they remove an unsettling amount of blood. But when Zuko finally takes a breath without coughing, the senior healer declares that they are finished for now and can leave her to rest.</p><p>"I will never be able to repay you," Iroh says to Katara. "I know that your princess has died. I would have understood if you had let my niece die in return."</p><p>The hours by Zuko's bedside were filled with thoughts of his beloved Lu Ten, of Azulon who died so shortly afterward, of Princess Ursa whose fate is still unknown. If the gods take away yet another member of his family, he will surely go mad, but perhaps that is the price Iroh and his people must pay for the war they started. A spiritual debt.</p><p>Several people address Katara as Prince, and dimly Iroh remembers that both Katara and his brother had introduced themselves as sons of a chief, which is equivalent to princehood. Whatever motivated a prince to work at such length and personally save the life of an enemy, Iroh is grateful to have crossed paths with such an honorable young man.</p><p>The women in the healing tent do not like Iroh's presence, but he is not ordered to leave his niece, and he is grateful for that too.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. One Princess For Another</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warning:</p><p>Zuko and Iroh are, FOR THIS CHAPTER ONLY, prisoners of war. Everyone literally just stands around trying to figure out what to do with them. Execution comes up. Holding Zuko hostage and demanding Ozai stop the war for her safe return comes up. Forced marriage comes up. None of those things happen. The fact that the Fire Nation and Water Tribe are two extremely different cultures is a constant source of friction.</p><p>In the second part, Yue's funeral happens. Arnook cuts his hand and bleeds onto the grave as part of the ceremony. Also, Hahn calls Katara a traitor for healing Zuko!!! Unlike Yugoda, he is not sympathetic at all ~*~and he gets punished!~*~</p><p>Okay, I think that's all.</p><p>This is the last chapter for Book 1. Book 2 will be published in a couple of weeks because I want to try and finish my Halloween costume. It's Beelzebub from Good Omens. I'm also going to be crying over the My Chemical Romance concert I was supposed to go to but it got canceled thanks to the plague.</p><p>To everyone who commented, bookmarked, and left kudos: Thank you so much! Feel free to <a href="https://leradny.tumblr.com/">ambush me on Tumblr and talk about Zutara!</a> Or other stuff. Quarantine is making me so stir crazy I'm exercising now. Willingly.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last thing Zuko remembers was being in a cave with the meditating Avatar.</p><p>No--as she looks around, she sees the blues and whites of the Water Tribe and she remembers lying here in this bed. Coughing blood, nearly immobile from pain while two blue-eyed figures stood over her. Then a wave of more pain washes over her, burning, and she recalls things that she would rather forget entirely. Her memory of the Agni Kai with her father had overtaken her, and she'd screamed as if her burn was freshly seared onto her face. Then she lay in the snow crying to Agni for mercy because she was too exhausted to stand and even breathing hurt.</p><p>"Zuko."</p><p>"Uncle." Her voice comes out as a parched whisper. "Water, please."</p><p>A familiar voice sounds--male, but young. She cannot put a name to it. "Can you sit up?"</p><p>She struggles to. Iroh puts a warm, steady hand behind her shoulderblades to help her up. The healer tilts a bowl to her lips. She drinks whatever it is on instinct and sighs in relief as she tastes the blend. It's a lavender tea with cloves and poppy oil that eases the pain, lukewarm and gentle. It sends her back into a restful sleep almost at once.</p><p>When she opens her eyes later, she is still in the healing house. She has no idea how much time has passed. The small fire in the center of the room is fed by oil of some sort, not wood. It's being stoked by a middle-aged woman who eyes her warily. But she gets up without a word and tends to a patient on the other side of the room.</p><p>"Zuko." Iroh's voice is as grave as she's ever heard it. She looks up to see him by her bedside and wonders if he has stayed the whole time. How long has it been? "The Chief of the North would like to hold a trial when you are well."</p><p>"I'm--" She pulls the blanket off of her and tries to sit up. Her thirst has been replaced by a terrible hunger. She doesn't recall eating anything since being on Zhao's ship. "I'm hungry."</p><p>"Then I will call a healer and let you rest a little longer. But please, when you have fully recovered you must come quietly with me into the council room. Do not fight at all."</p><p>"What happened?" she asks.</p><p>"Admiral Zhao's entire fleet has been destroyed."</p><p>Zuko couldn't care less about Zhao being dead. Not after an assassination attempt which he couldn't even carry out properly. She thinks of the soldiers, how they had also noted the strangeness of the attack's timing, yet trusted in their Admiral to have a plan. Either the plan had failed--or this entire thing was simply a diversion of some sort. She hates it no matter what, but the last time Zuko tried to save her compatriots from a meaningless death, she was banished and disfigured and the young men died anyway. There was nothing she could have done this time.</p><p>"So we are prisoners," she says instead.</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>They are not bound or in prison, which is very surprising, but she supposes whatever happened to her was serious enough that they could use her life to ensure Iroh's good behavior. "What happened to me, Uncle?"</p><p>"It has been nearly a week. I do not know what happened before I found you here, but under the eye of Agni, I swear what I did see is true." Her uncle then says the five words she would rather have died than hear: "You were dying. And now you owe them your life."</p><p>Zuko's life has been a series of losses. First her mother, then her honor and beauty, then her crew, then her ship. She was born the first Princess of the Fire Nation and sixteen years later she is a prisoner of war with nothing to call her own. Even her life belongs to someone else now.</p><p>The eldest woman introduces herself as Midwife Yugoda. She hands Zuko a bowl of very thin porridge with some sort of meat broth and she is the one to monitor her recovery personally. Zuko wonders where the other healer went. Or perhaps it had been a dream--she swears the voice she heard was that of the waterbender boy, but there are only women here.</p><p>When Zuko is deemed fit to stand trial, several Water Tribe soldiers come to bring her and Iroh to the council room. She bows her head and follows them, finding it strange how they are still not bound even in the council room.</p><p>There is no single judge as there would be in a Fire Nation court of law, but a group of elders sitting alongside the Chief and his wife on a raised platform. The first introductions made are that of Chief Arnook and his wife Nanurjuk. Zuko and Iroh are told to stand in front and slightly to the side of their judges, while the Avatar and the two Water Tribe boys stand opposite.</p><p>"As the Avatar would usually preside over such a trial as this, yet he was in the thick of all that occurred, I invoke the authority of the moon and the sea instead," says Chief Arnook. "There will be no dishonesty during this trial. There will be no physical attacks made in this hall."</p><p>"No, Chief Arnook," her uncle says. Zuko repeats it to be safe. The Avatar and his companions also do so.</p><p>Zuko supposes she must refer to them by name now, but she is more concerned with the fact that the waterbender Katara is called a <em>prince</em> along with his brother. There was nothing in their manners that suggested it, yet she notes that he and his brother are now wearing perfectly tailored formal suits like the Chief and the rest of the elders. Then she recalls their first meeting which she had fought tooth and nail to avoid and realizes they <em>had</em> introduced themselves as sons of a chief.</p><p>"The first matter I wish to discuss concerns Princess Yue, our only child and heir." Zuko looks around for the princess she had seen in the Spirit Oasis, the one with white hair, but sees no such young lady among the Water Tribe. "She met her death on the night of the Red Moon." She nods. "It happens that you, Princess Zuko, are the firstborn Princess of the Fire Nation and of an age with our daughter had she lived. Are you aware of how we usually settle an issue such as this?"</p><p>"No, Chief Arnook, but I may infer." Even though her blood goes cold, Zuko bows her head. "One princess for another. You wish to execute me."</p><p>"Execute you?" There is a flurry of shocked whispers. "Absolutely not! We would keep you here and demand that Fire Lord Ozai cease all further attacks on both Water Tribes. Upon the withdrawal of his military forces, we would release you to your family."</p><p>"Oh. Well. That is... preferable." While it seems that Agni heard her plea for mercy, she sighs. "However, I am afraid that I am not as valuable a hostage as you believe, Chief Arnook. The only acknowledged princess of the Fire Nation is my sister Azula."</p><p>"Acknowledged?" Arnook asks. "Are you a bastard child?"</p><p>Several of the elders whisper and gesture to her face--to her scar--and it puts Zuko's already fractured nerves on edge.</p><p>"Insolence!" she snaps. The guards shift, alert yet clearly conflicted. "My birth was recorded in the Hall of Blood as first and true-born daughter of Princess Ursa and Prince Ozai!"</p><p>"Zuko, <em>please.</em>" Iroh tugs on her shoulder.</p><p>Zuko recalls what happened the last time she spoke disrespectfully. She swallows her pride. She bows her head. "Forgive me for my outburst, Chief Arnook. I am not a bastard child, no."</p><p>Midwife Yugoda speaks next. "We beg pardon, Princess Zuko. But we do not understand how one can hold no titles yet still be of legitimate birth."</p><p>She is not supposed to lie here, but she hates telling the story. As she hesitates, Iroh asks, "Shall I tell them what happened?"</p><p>Zuko immediately shakes her head. If she must be humiliated by the truth, she may as well speak it herself instead of hiding behind her uncle like a child. Never mind that she only came of age a few months ago. She clears her throat. "Three years ago I had a disagreement with my father on a matter which amounted to grave disrespect. As punishment, Fire Lord Ozai stripped me of my birthright and banished me on the condition that my titles would be restored once I brought the Avatar to him. With my current standing as such, it is unlikely that my father would listen to any demands concerning me."</p><p>It sounds simple enough, but the council turn to each other and converse in low voices.</p><p>"This is an unusual situation," says Grandmaster Pakku, who she has heard of but never seen in person. As masters tend to be, he is old. His long white hair has been left loose. "We do not banish women in the Water Tribe, nor is it possible here to strip birthrights from anyone. Among our people, you <em>are</em> still a Princess of the Fire Nation, the same as your sister. We have never heard of anyone admitting to their, ah... <em>lack</em> of value as a hostage before."</p><p>"Since you insist otherwise, as a courtesy we will call you Lady," Arnook decides. "We will treat with you as neutral, separate from the Fire Nation entirely. As your actions were separate from General Iroh on that night, we will judge him separately as well."</p><p>"With respect, Chief Arnook." Iroh puts his hand on Zuko's shoulder. "I am Lady Zuko's only family here. Whatever punishment my niece receives, I wish to share with her." Zuko resolves to apologize for every time she shouted at her uncle, who is now protecting her in what little way he can at his own expense.</p><p>Arnook sighs. "As one neutral party, then. You are a woman and your uncle is an elder; we are not allowed to harm either. Yet the Avatar has told me that you, Lady Zuko, attempted to capture him several times, including on the very night of the Red Moon."</p><p>"I recall capturing the Avatar at your temple and hiding in a cave outside the city, but very little else besides waking up in the healing tent."</p><p>"Convenient," says the Grandmaster. "But at least you have not pled innocence."</p><p>She glares at him. Iroh's hand grows heavy on her shoulder. She bites her tongue.</p><p>"The memory loss was my fault." Katara clears his throat, the first words he's spoken since the beginning of the trial. "As we were rescuing Avatar Aang, I struck a blow when she was too exhausted to fight back and knocked her unconscious."</p><p>"When Prince Katara brought her to me, she was in poor enough health that she would have died within a few hours," Yugoda points out. "We both worked to heal her wounds until the moon rose again. I assure you the memory loss was justified, and frankly could have been far worse. Were you not there, Grandmaster?"</p><p>"I was guarding the main entrance of the healing house, Midwife."</p><p>There appears to be bad blood between the two. If she were in the Fire Nation, she might try to use it to her advantage, but she has not studied Water Tribe politics enough to feel comfortable at all here, so the information is useless.</p><p>The group of judges converse among themselves. The shaman, a Water Tribe equivalent of a Fire Sage, speaks. "Did you ever wish to kill Avatar Aang, Lady Zuko?"</p><p>"No," Zuko says. "If I killed him, the search would begin all over again. I wished only to capture the Avatar and bring him to my father alive."</p><p>Chief Arnook nods. "Then the debt was greater on Prince Katara's end. As he healed you himself, it has already been settled. Buy what you will from our markets, but we will give you no food or lodging as an honored guest. We will neither force your departure nor hold you here as hostage, but act as if you were any other traveler passing through. We must say that criminal activity or disruptions of the peace within our borders, such as attempting to capture the Avatar again, will not be tolerated. Is this clear, Lady Zuko?"</p><p>She nods and bows her head.</p><p>"General Iroh, you fought against Admiral Zhao and his soldiers despite sharing a homeland. Though you failed to save the Moon Spirit and thus our daughter's life, we must show our gratitude for the attempt. What do you require?"</p><p>"Chief Arnook, I know what it is to lose an only child. I grieve with you. My niece's life and our safe passage from your harbor is enough, and there is nothing I wish for that you may give."</p><p>"Then we will give you coin in Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe currency; one hundred and fifty gold for your prior defection in the heat of battle, and another one hundred and fifty gold should you give an official pledge of continued allyship to us, the Water Tribes. Recall that you and Lady Zuko both would need to swear allegiance."</p><p>"May--" Zuko stops and looks at her uncle.</p><p>"May we discuss this for a moment?"</p><p>They are given nods. Zuko and Iroh retreat. "Uncle," she says. "Take the first half, but please--don't swear to them. Father will never let me go home if I swear."</p><p>"They saved your life, Princess Zuko."</p><p>"That debt was cleared."</p><p>"On a technicality alone!" Iroh reminds her. "And according to <em>their</em> codes of honor. Think, Princess! You do not want to swear loyalty to the Tribes, yet you accept their absolution because it benefits you! What honor is in that? What would <em>our</em> people say? If a man from the Fire Nation had saved your life despite being an enemy, despite being well within his rights to strike a death blow or leave you to die, what would happen after that?"</p><p>"I would--Father would have given him my hand in marriage--" She had forgotten that she had one thing left, her body, and the thought fills her with horror of losing even that to a man that she doesn't know, who is still her enemy for all that they are on neutral ground at the moment. She looks at Katara, <em>Prince Katara</em>, and panics. "Uncle, no! Please don't make me marry him, I don't know him, I don't want to, I want to go home, I want to go home--"</p><p>"Zuko, I did not mean to frighten you." He takes her hand and holds it until she's calmed down. "I meant to say that, whether we abide by their laws or ours, you must do something you do not want to do. In your heart of hearts, ask yourself--which one would be more terrible? Fealty to the Water Tribe in general, or marriage to a man you do not know?"</p><p>Both of those paths will break her heart, but she knows which one she truly cannot <em>live</em> with. She has spent too long listening to Ozai slowly chip away at her mother's spirit with pointed words and icy silences; then she spent years dreading the thought that the only remnants of Princess Ursa were her bones, unburnt and unconsecrated, and a wandering lonely spirit. After Ozai scarred Zuko, her suspicions only grew greater that he was the one to kill his wife, because she had given him no sons to venture forth into the world. 'Who will protect you, Princess Ursa?' he'd asked. She still wakes up in a cold sweat sometimes.</p><p>And they were both of the Fire Nation, though their marriage was admittedly an unhappy one. How could marriage to an actual enemy be any better? Yes, she would still be unable to return home after swearing fealty to the Tribes, but at least she would have her body, marred as it is. She would not have to stay in a place identical to the one that nearly killed her.</p><p>"Please, Uncle," she finds herself begging. "Don't make me marry him, I can't. Please, I'll die." <em>Mercy, mercy on me, Agni,</em> she prays.</p><p>"Then dry your eyes, Princess Zuko. We will swear our allyship to the Water Tribes." Zuko covers her face, crying into her hands. Iroh waits for her to calm down, resting his hand on her shoulder. "I know. I know it will be hard, my dear, but you are strong. You will overcome your despair. There may be another way for you to return home."</p><p><em>But there <strong>isn't,</strong> Uncle,</em> Zuko thinks. He is trying to give her hope where there is none. She wipes her eyes with a sleeve, but as they kneel before the chief, the tears return to stream down her face again, even more abundant than before. She ducks her head to hide them.</p><p>Before they can speak, Chief Arnook clears his throat. "May we ask why you are weeping, Lady Zuko?" Zuko can't find her voice. Arnook turns to her uncle. "General Iroh?"</p><p>"Among our people, if a man saves the life of a woman of his enemy's clan--or in this case, nation--she is obliged to marry him, but she has begged me not to enforce this."</p><p>Zuko dares not look up.</p><p>"I won't hold you to that either," Katara says quickly. For simplicity's sake, Zuko decides that she is relieved when he goes on, "I'm not even sixteen yet, I can't marry anyone."</p><p>"I have told her that a pledge of fealty is an appropriate substitution, though there are extenuating circumstances which are also... upsetting to her."</p><p>"What circumstances?" Yugoda asks. There is nearly a hint of gentleness underneath her professional tone.</p><p>"As the Fire Nation is at war with the Tribes, pledging loyalty to an enemy would change her conditional banishment into permanent banishment. Even if she were to bring him the Avatar, she would not be allowed to return home as the Fire Lord does not tolerate defection. Yet it is still preferable to the option of marriage, so we have decided it is the best route to take."</p><p>"Yes," Zuko says, though her voice is still choked with tears. "For the best. I swear fealty to the Water Tribes, North and South."</p><p>Chief Arnook shakes his head. "Rise, Lady Zuko. I do not accept your oath."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"We do not banish women," he reminds her. "If pledging your loyalty to us will result in a permanent exile from your homeland, it would be as good as banishing you ourselves. And ultimately, an oath sworn with tears of sorrow is never binding in the Water Tribes. We shall extend our mercy and release you of that obligation. General Iroh, if this is favorable, you may swear fealty only for yourself."</p><p>Zuko is shaking too much to speak. Iroh asks, "Will she be considered an enemy if she does not pledge allegiance?"</p><p>"A neutral party--as long as she keeps the peace within our borders."</p><p>"Then we do agree to those terms." Iroh holds his hand out to clasp forearms with the chief and says, "I swear fealty to the Water Tribes, North and South."</p><p>She barely hears anything else as Iroh takes her arm and leads her out of the room. She keeps her gaze on the ground, heart hammering in her chest, her prayer to Agni repeating over and over: <em>Mercy, mercy, mercy on me, Agni.</em> But did Agni even have any power here, in this land where the sun doesn't rise for months at a time? Who would have had mercy on her besides the gods of her people?</p><p>- - -</p><p>"How <em>barbaric</em>," Pakku remarks as they leave the council room.</p><p>"Careful, Grandmaster," Yugoda tells him.</p><p>"Don't tell me it doesn't strike you as such, Midwife. One thing entirely to have women as warriors, but banishing their daughters! Execution of women! Forced marriage!"</p><p>"Yes, Pakku, you're one to speak about forced marriage."</p><p> "I admit I was more heartbroken when Kanna left rather than marry me--but did I ever chase her down? No."</p><p>"No," Yugoda agrees. "You were simply so bitter you never took another lover and you held a grudge against me for years because I didn't tell you when she left."</p><p>"Well, that is my <em>personal</em> business. I have always worked with you professionally. And I have never harmed you nor any other woman, you know that!"</p><p>"True. In any case, everyone wishes to go home at the end of the day, even if it is not the warmest."</p><p>"Or perhaps being too warm is the problem. That scar on her face troubles me now that I think closer. How does a firebender get burned so badly? There is so much energy coiled under it, like an abscess waiting to burst. It could not have been an accident. You have surely noticed it."</p><p>"I have. But she was young when it occurred, and she is still young now. Her chi has grown around it, so snarled and tangled that it will be a long time in healing. I don't think she'll stay more than a week. She did not swear fealty, after all."</p><p>- - -</p><p>"Do you think Zuko will try to capture me again?"</p><p>They're having dinner in their chambers instead of with everyone else in the hall. Sokka blames himself for Princess Yue's death and isn't touching his food. Aang keeps getting hurried bows of deference and he won't talk about what he did to wipe out an entire fleet of the most advanced battleships in the world. He picks at his vegetables, taking a bite when Katara glances up at him but otherwise not eating either.</p><p>Katara just wants to avoid the looks he's been getting--from the soldiers and from the other healers. He has no idea what he's eating, he's just putting away as much as he can so he'll be ready for classes with Yugoda and work in the healing tents. Fighting lessons have been suspended for a week to let everyone recover.</p><p>"Not unless she wants the whole Water Tribe to kick her out," Katara reminds him. "And her uncle swore fealty outright, so that might help."</p><p>"You dodged a sharp arrow there, bro," Sokka says. "Marrying into the Fire Nation."</p><p>"I think it's more like a symbolic gesture of goodwill for a life debt. That story Dad told us ended in marriage too."</p><p>"Yeah, but they fell in love first, and also they were both Water Tribe, and it wasn't obliged--which by the way is pretty messed up. They arrange marriages here, did you know?"</p><p>"Why do you care about marriage all of a sudden?" Katara asks.</p><p>Sokka's well into his stride now and ignores the question. "And also, banishing women? Three years ago--she would have been younger than you and you're still a kid. What do little girls do to get banished from their country? And she's a Princess! The Fire Lord banished his own daughter? Stripped her of titles? You can't strip away blood ties! It's in the name--<em>blood</em> ties! They're permanent! I knew the Fire Nation was evil, but I thought they at least cared about their <em>families</em>--"</p><p>"Sokka, it's been a long day," Katara cuts in. He puts his food down. It will be put away by the next servants who come into the room. "I don't really want to talk about complicated foreign politics. I'm going to bed."</p><p>He can't rid himself of the image of Princess--Lady?--Zuko, usually haughty and proud, as temperamental as the fire she bends, begging her uncle practically on her knees not to force her into marriage.</p><p>- - -</p><p>In a tent far away from the rest of the Northern Water Tribe, Zuko lays bundled in her sleeping roll, unable to sleep. She worries at her scar, prodding at it with the tips of her fingers.</p><p><em>That girl is only good for marriage,</em> she hears Ozai's voice say. When he scarred her in the Agni Kai, Zuko thought he had taken even that prospect away; but it seems that no matter what she does her father's words will come back to haunt her in the cruelest ways possible. Marriage to an enemy.</p><p>"They are a very merciful people, these Water Tribes--are they not, Princess Zuko?" She doesn't want to talk about mercy or anything else. She keeps her mouth shut. Iroh goes on anyway, "Did you know they pride themselves on honor as much as we do? It is said that harming women in particular is such a grievous offense that even when raiding enemy villages, they would allow any women and children to leave in safety."</p><p>"Exaggeration," she dismisses it, unable to let her uncle continue. "We have stories like that in the Fire Nation, too. Zhen, wielder of the Sword of Heaven, who could raise a wall of fire and make a hundred people walk through, and it would only harm the ones with evil in their hearts. But you know the truth, Uncle, that fire is fire. It burns everything and anyone in its way."</p><p>She worries at her scar again. In the beginnings of her banishment, Zuko had a fantasy of getting her nails under the toughened skin and pulling it right off, like peeling the red skin on a lychee fruit to reveal the soft flesh underneath, and she would be beautiful again. She had never appreciated her own looks until Father scarred her, and now it is too late. Yes, there were stories of disfigured women finding love and marrying anyway, as Iroh had attempted to remind her in the early days of banishment, but they fell flat. The gods had chosen what life Zuko will live and it is a solitary one.</p><p>She is glad to have left the trial with her life and what freedom she has.</p><p>"Perhaps it is exaggeration. I am only saying that perhaps it would not have been so bad for you to marry that Water Tribe boy. Who knew that we were following two princes as well as the Avatar? And if this Prince Katara was honorable enough to heal you even while you were still on enemy sides--"</p><p>"He's a boy whose voice hasn't even broken yet." She turns around and yanks the blanket over her shoulders.</p><p>"But upon his coming of age, would he have been such a dreadful husband?"</p><p>"I said I would die if I married him, Uncle. I meant it."</p><p>A silence.</p><p>"I apologize, Princess."</p><p>- - -</p><p>Everyone waits to see what Lady Zuko and General Iroh will do.</p><p>They're watched by merchants who tell the chief that they're buying cookware, rice, traveling packs, and other supplies. As it wasn't forbidden, Arnook keeps his word and allows it.</p><p>They're watched by the sailors at the docks, who tell Aang to be alert in case of an ambush, because the two firebenders buy passage to the nearest Earth Kingdom port on a trade ship.</p><p>They're watched by waterbenders and warriors who tail the ship along the borders of the Tribal waters, concealing themselves amongst icebergs. But to everyone's surprise and relief, the ship disappears to the Earth Kingdom on schedule without any sort of disturbance.</p><p>"I guess they realized it would be stupid to try and ambush us right outside the borders," Sokka says. "But where are they going?"</p><p>Nobody has any idea.</p><p>Free of their two enemies, however good their behavior was, the Northern Water Tribe lets their guard down enough to mourn Yue, their Princess of Hope. It had been postponed due to how she'd left no body to bury or sink beneath the sea. Katara is conflicted when Nanurjuk invites him to the funeral. Since he wasn't there because he was healing an enemy, people might be angry. The Chief and Chieftess assure him that they don't harbor any resentment.</p><p>He asks if he can bring wildflowers as a gift, since everything they own is either essential gear or already gifted by Arnook or Nanurjuk. Then he and Sokka head out to find the Northern variant of the sun-rose, a small blue flower which is intensely fragrant at night and called the dusk-bloom. While Katara marks the closest patch on his map, Sokka finds a block of ivory and sets to carving it in the few days before the funeral. He doesn't show anyone what it is, wrapping it in a cloth before dropping it into the open mound. Katara decides not to ask as he scatters a handful of the dusk-blooms onto Yue's symbolic body, a set of her finest clothes. Aang brings nothing, instead chanting an Air Nomad prayer.</p><p>Yugoda and Nanurjuk and all of Yue's female relatives, her cousins and grandmothers and aunts, kneel to cry over the burial mound. Arnook pricks his palm with a knife to let a thin trickle of blood spill onto the mound.</p><p>Katara's nervous when people glare at him and whisper behind their hands. But at least they have the decency to wait until the funeral's over and everyone's leaving.</p><p>"Well." One boy about Sokka's age comes up, scowling. Katara has no idea who he is. "If it isn't the incompetent Prince of the South and his traitor brother."</p><p>"Shut up, Hahn," Sokka says.</p><p>"Boys," Arnook says, sounding exhausted.</p><p>"I was wondering why I didn't see you fighting, Prince Katara. Imagine my surprise when I learned you were in the healing tents rescuing the Fire Nation princess instead of our own."</p><p>"Katara's too young to fight, and he did anyway because he got ambushed!" Sokka shouts. "Last I heard, you got tossed overboard by Admiral Zhao and had to get fished out of the ocean like a polar bear puppy who couldn't swim! What's your excuse?"</p><p>"Gods and spirits!" Nanurjuk cries. "Stop this at once!"</p><p>Sokka and Hahn lunge at each other, but before they clash, two columns of ice grow over both of them up the the neck, freezing them to the ground. Pakku walks up. "You can stay there until you calm down or get frostbite. I'm not picky."</p><p>"To anyone who would like to dispute Prince Katara's actions on the night of Princess Yue's death," Nanurjuk announces. "We may as well hold a discussion on the matter now, as we are already gathered. But this must be done <em>civilly.</em>" She gives a stern look to Sokka and Hahn, who give shivering nods. Pakku releases them from the ice. A woman who is clearly Han's mother comes to fuss over him and Katara's throat grows tight with something close to jealousy.</p><p>"So what would you have done, Hahn of Ulluriaq Cove?" Arnook asks. "And I open the question for all to answer: What would any of you have done? Is it not one of the oldest laws of our people, North and South, that the greatest crime a man can perform is striking a woman with a death-blow? That is what Katara did, and he chose to act properly so his debt would be resolved."</p><p>"Arnook," says an older man. "She was the Fire Lord's daughter! Those savages--"</p><p>"Hold your tongue, Captain!" Nanurjuk shouts.</p><p>"What my father meant to say is," Hahn says. "Chief Arnook, the Fire Nation princess is a warrior."</p><p>"Is it not also dishonorable to strike a warrior who cannot defend himself?"</p><p>"But Arnook--!"</p><p>"Captain, we stand by Prince Katara's actions. We will not be swayed."</p><p>"Look, son," Katara almost jumps to hear Hahn's father address him. "I admire what you did, but you'll learn soon that there will be none of that high-mindedness in war."</p><p>Arnook gives Hahn's father a look of ice. "Am I hearing you correctly, Chun? Did you congratulate a child for upholding the strictest code of conduct, then in the same breath imply that you would not hold anyone else to the same standard?"</p><p>"It's all very well and good for a boy," Chun says, and for some reason this cuts Katara deeper than Han's insult of calling him a traitor. "He is innocent, he has not seen the atrocities of war that the Fire Nation can--"</p><p>"How do <em>you</em> know what I've seen?" Katara demands. He comes out from behind Arnook and Nanurjuk and Sokka. "How do you think what happened now is anything like what we've gone through in the South? The Avatar is here! <em>You</em> are still here with your family! I saw my mother die when I was eight and my grandmother made a false grave in case my soul followed. My father has been fighting for two years."</p><p>Nanurjuk lays a hand on his shoulder. "Keep speaking."</p><p>Katara blinks tears as he leans into the motherly touch. "The Fire Nation isn't even a week's sail from the South Pole. Every new moon in summer until I was eight, they would attack until they'd captured or killed all of our waterbenders. I am the last one from the South and now I'm here, all the way across the world, because that's the only way I can learn to master my element. I passed through your gates escorted by more waterbenders than I had ever seen in my life, and I could feel that the ice had been undisturbed for lifetimes, that your homes haven't been destroyed and rebuilt so many times it scares you to try again! There are places where the ice melts red in the spring because there was so much blood spilled!"</p><p>There are other people crying. He hopes Sokka isn't one of them--or Aang. Arnook orders everyone, "Listen to him."</p><p>"You are the ones who haven't seen war! I was born and raised with death at my side and I hated every moment because I never had any power over it! Not until I learned to heal. That's why I tried to save Princess Zuko, even though she was an enemy and a warrior. I know exactly how death hurts people, especially the ones who are left behind. An entire fleet was killed in a battle they entered knowingly and were prepared for. You've won! How can you be unhappy just because I spared the life of one woman who couldn't fight back!"</p><p>All of his anger falls away and he's suddenly too exhausted to speak any more. He feels empty, the same as he did when his mother died.</p><p>"You've said enough, dear. Come along and rest." Nanurjuk starts to lead him away. Sokka and Aang follow.</p><p>"Captain Chun and Second Lieutenant Hahn," Arnook says. "I worry over what sort of example you have set today by encouraging the death of a woman so soon after my beloved Yue's funeral. If we had lost, I would understand your fury or grief, but Prince Katara is right. We won this battle with minor damage taken to our own forces and lands. To relish in further bloodshed would be pointless cruelty. You will both be placed on working probation for thirty days."</p><p>"Chief--"</p><p>"Sixty," Arnook says. "And if you continue to argue with me I will discharge you both."</p><p>When they reach the rooms in the castle, Nanurjuk takes Katara aside. "Let me speak to your brother for a moment, Sokka."</p><p>"Come on, Aang," Sokka says at once. "Let's get something to eat."</p><p>The Chieftess waits until the other two are out of earshot before sweeping Katara up in a hug. He realizes he hasn't really been hugged since they left Bato. He's the one giving hugs. "Oh, you brave boy! I heard it was worse in the South, but not to that extent!" When she pulls away, silent tears are falling down her cheeks. "Listen, Katara. You have no mother, and Arnook and I have lost our only child. Stay here after your training is done and we will raise you as our heir."</p><p>"Thank you, Nanurjuk," Katara says. "But even if I've lost my mother, I still have a father and my grandmother and Sokka. And I am the last waterbender of the South. When I'm done training, I want to go back to defend my home and teach the new waterbenders."</p><p>"You're right. Of course you would want to do that." Nanurjuk straightens up. "Then know that every time you return to the North Pole, we will treat you and your family as ours."</p><p>She rests her hand on his cheek for a moment, then draws Katara into another embrace. She looks and sounds different, but if Katara tries hard, he can feel an echo of Kya's arms around him. The feeling of being safe and warm and comforted clashes with a bone deep pain that makes him want to howl for as many years as his mother's been dead.</p><p>When he goes to sleep at moonset, he sleeps like he's dead as well. The dream he has isn't about his mother but about his grandmother, pouring water onto his false grave. Someone else stands next to her, one of the other villagers, but he can't quite see or hear who it is. He can only hear Kanna saying, "My boys, my boys! Take care of yourselves in the North. I hope to hear from you soon."</p><p>The other woman says something and rests a blurry hand on his grandmother's shoulder.</p><p>"Last night, Amka, I dreamt that Katara was healing a pale woman with black hair, like the Fire Nation princess who came to us in search of the Avatar. She had a great burn over one eye, almost half of her face. She must have been hiding that with her hair. I don't blame her for it."</p><p>There are lots of things that grandmothers say they know, like when someone is lying, who took the last piece of seal jerky, or what's been broken and hidden in a place they think she won't find it. This is different. Hearing his grandmother describe something she couldn't possibly have seen for herself, something he hadn't even told her about in a letter, shocks Katara into wakefulness. He grabs a piece of paper and starts writing a letter, looking over his shoulder now and then.</p><p>On the other side of the world, Kanna goes on, "But her hair was shorter. Katara looked like a grown man, as well, and there were flames everywhere. She looked nearly dead and he was crying over her."</p><p>"I hope that means she joins our side," Amka says. "Not that Katara joins hers."</p><p>"Who knows what it means?" Kanna stoppers the flask and ties it back onto her belt. "Sokka will start growing any day now, but Katara's got a year or two to go. I hope they visit soon, before they're gone as long as Hakoda."</p><p>Amka takes her gloved hand. "Come on, Gran-Gran. Let's get you home."</p>
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